[Joel – 1917 Jewish Publication Society]

Chapter 1

The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. ²Hear this, ye old men, And give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, Or in the days of your fathers? ³Tell ye your children of it, And let your children tell their children, And their children another generation. ⁴That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; And that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; And that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten. ⁵Awake, ye drunkards, and weep, And wail, all ye drinkers of wine, Because of the sweet wine, For it is cut off from your mouth. ⁶For a people is come up upon my land, Mighty, and without number; His teeth are the teeth of a lion, And he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness. ⁷He hath laid my vine waste, And blasted my fig-tree; He hath made it clean bare, and cast it down, The branches thereof are made white.

⁸Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the husband of her youth. ⁹The meal-offering and the drink- offering is cut off From the house of the LORD; The priests mourn, Even the LORD’S ministers. ¹⁰The field is wasted, The land mourneth; For the corn is wasted, The new wine is dried up, The oil languisheth. ¹¹Be ashamed, O ye husbandmen, Wail, O ye vinedressers, For the wheat and for the barley; Because the harvest of the field is perished. ¹²The vine is withered, And the fig-tree languisheth; The pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, Even all the trees of the field, are withered; For joy is withered away from the sons of men.

¹³Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests, Wail, ye ministers of the altar; Come, lie all night in sackcloth, Ye ministers of my God; For the meal-offering and the drink- offering is withholden From the house of your God. ¹⁴Sanctify ye a fast, Call a solemn assembly, Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land Unto the house of the LORD your God, And cry unto the LORD.

¹⁵Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand, And as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. ¹⁶Is not the food cut off Before our eyes, Yea, joy and gladness From the house of our God? ¹⁷The grains shrivel under their hoes; The garners are laid desolate, The barns are broken down; For the corn is withered. ¹⁸How do the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed, Because they have no pasture; Yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. ¹⁹Unto Thee, O LORD, do I cry; For the fire hath devoured The pastures of the wilderness, And the flame hath set ablaze All the trees of the field. ²⁰Yea, the beasts of the field pant unto Thee; For the water brooks are dried up, And the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Chapter 2

Blow ye the horn in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain; Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD cometh, For it is at hand; ²A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, As blackness spread upon the mountains; A great people and a mighty, There hath not been ever the like, Neither shall be any more after them, Even to the years of many generations. ³A fire devoureth before them, And behind them a flame blazeth; The land is as the garden of Eden before them, And behind them a desolate wilderness; Yea, and nothing escapeth them.

⁴The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; And as horsemen, so do they run. ⁵Like the noise of chariots, On the tops of the mountains do they leap, Like the noise of a flame of fire That devoureth the stubble, As a mighty people set in battle array. ⁶At their presence the peoples are in anguish; All faces have gathered blackness. ⁷They run like mighty men, They climb the wall like men of war; And they move on every one in his ways, And they entangle not their paths. ⁸Neither doth one thrust another, They march every one in his highway; And they break through the weapons, And suffer no harm. ⁹They leap upon the city, They run upon the wall, They climb up into the houses; They enter in at the windows like a thief. ¹⁰Before them the earth quaketh, The heavens tremble; The sun and the moon are become black, And the stars withdraw their shining. ¹¹And the LORD uttereth His voice before His army; For His camp is very great, For he is mighty that executeth His word; For great is the day of the LORD and very terrible; And who can abide it?

¹²Yet even now, saith the LORD, Turn ye unto Me with all your heart, And with fasting, and with weeping, and with lamentation; ¹³And rend your heart, and not your garments, And turn unto the LORD your God; For He is gracious and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, And repenteth Him of the evil. ¹⁴Who knoweth whether He will not turn and repent, And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a meal-offering and a drink-offering Unto the LORD your God?

¹⁵Blow the horn in Zion, Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; ¹⁶Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children, And those that suck the breasts; Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, And the bride out of her pavilion. ¹⁷Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say: ‘Spare thy people, O LORD, And give not Thy heritage to reproach, That the nations should make them a byword: Wherefore should they say among the peoples: Where is their God?’ ¹⁸Then was the LORD jealous for His land, And had pity on His people. ¹⁹And the LORD answered and said unto His people: ‘Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, And ye shall be satisfied therewith; And I will no more make you a reproach among the nations; ²⁰But I will remove far off from you the northern one, And will drive him into a land barren and desolate, With his face toward the eastern sea, And his hinder part toward the western sea; That his foulness may come up, and his ill savour may come up, Because he hath done great things.’

²¹Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice; For the LORD hath done great things. ²²Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field; For the pastures of the wilderness do spring, For the tree beareth its fruit, The fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength. ²³Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice In the LORD your God; For He giveth you the former rain in just measure, And He causeth to come down for you the rain, The former rain and the latter rain, at the first. ²⁴And the floors shall be full of corn, And the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. ²⁵And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, The canker-worm, and the caterpiller, and the palmer-worm, My great army which I sent among you. ²⁶And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, And shall praise the name of the LORD your God, That hath dealt wondrously with you; And My people shall never be ashamed. ²⁷And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, And that I am the LORD your God, and there is none else; And My people shall never be ashamed.

Chapter 3

And it shall come to pass afterward, That I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions; ²And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids In those days will I pour out My spirit. ³And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, Blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. ⁴The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the great and terrible day of the LORD come. ⁵And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, As the LORD hath said, And among the remnant those whom the LORD shall call.

Chapter 4

For, behold, in those days, and in that time, When I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, ²I will gather all nations, And will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there For My people and for My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations, And divided My land. ³And they have cast lots for My people; And have given a boy for an harlot, And sold a girl for wine, and have drunk.

⁴And also what are ye to Me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the regions of Philistia? will ye render retribution on My behalf? and if ye render retribution on My behalf, swiftly, speedily will I return your retribution upon your own head. ⁵Forasmuch as ye have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried into your temples My goodly treasures; ⁶the children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the sons of Jevanim, that ye might remove them far from their border; ⁷behold, I will stir them up out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your retribution upon your own head; ⁸and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the men of Sheba, to a nation far off; for the LORD hath spoken.

⁹Proclaim ye this among the nations, Prepare war; Stir up the mighty men; Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up. ¹⁰Beat your plowshares into swords, And your pruning-hooks into spears; Let the weak say: ‘I am strong.’ ¹¹Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, And gather yourselves together; Thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD! ¹²Let the nations be stirred up, and come up To the valley of Jehoshaphat; For there will I sit to judge All the nations round about. ¹³Put ye in the sickle, For the harvest is ripe; Come, tread ye, For the winepress is full, the vats overflow; For their wickedness is great.

¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. ¹⁵The sun and the moon are become black, And the stars withdraw their shining. ¹⁶And the LORD shall roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth shall shake; But the LORD will be a refuge unto His people, And a stronghold to the children of Israel. ¹⁷So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God, Dwelling in Zion My holy mountain; Then shall Jerusalem be holy, And there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

¹⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, That the mountains shall drop down sweet wine, And the hills shall flow with milk, And all the brooks of Judah shall flow with waters; And a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, And shall water the valley of Shittim. ¹⁹Egypt shall be a desolation, And Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, For the violence against the children of Judah, Because they have shed innocent blood in their land. ²⁰But Judah shall be inhabited for ever, And Jerusalem from generation to generation. ²¹And I will hold as innocent their blood that I have not held as innocent; And the LORD dwelleth in Zion.