Book 29        Joel

29:001:001 The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

29:001:002 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the
           land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your
           fathers?

29:001:003 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their
           children, and their children another generation.

29:001:004 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and
           that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and
           that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller
           eaten.

29:001:005 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of
           wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your
           mouth.

29:001:006 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without
           number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the
           cheek teeth of a great lion.

29:001:007 He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath
           made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are
           made white.

29:001:008 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of
           her youth.

29:001:009 The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the
           house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD's ministers, mourn.

29:001:010 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is
           wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

29:001:011 Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for
           the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field
           is perished.

29:001:012 The vine is dried up, 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: because joy is
           withered away from the sons of men.

29:001:013 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of
           the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of
           my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is
           withholden from the house of your God.

29:001:014 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders
           and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD
           your God, and cry unto the LORD,

29:001:015 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a
           destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

29:001:016 Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness
           from the house of our God?

29:001:017 The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid
           desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.

29:001:018 How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed,
           because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are
           made desolate.

29:001:019 O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the
           pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the
           trees of the field.

29:001:020 The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of
           waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures
           of the wilderness.

29:002:001 Blow ye the trumpet 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 nigh at hand;

29:002:002 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of
           thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a
           great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like,
           neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many
           generations.

29:002:003 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth:
           the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them
           a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

29:002:004 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as
           horsemen, so shall they run.

29:002:005 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they
           leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the
           stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

29:002:006 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces
           shall gather blackness.

29:002:007 They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like
           men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and
           they shall not break their ranks:

29:002:008 Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in
           his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be
           wounded.

29:002:009 They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the
           wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in
           at the windows like a thief.

29:002:010 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble:
           the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall
           withdraw their shining:

29:002:011 And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his
           camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word:
           for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who
           can abide it?

29:002:012 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with
           all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with
           mourning:

29:002:013 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the
           LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
           and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

29:002:014 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing
           behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the
           LORD your God?

29:002:015 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn
           assembly:

29:002:016 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the
           elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts:
           let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out
           of her closet.

29:002:017 Let 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 thine heritage to reproach, that the
           heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among
           the people, Where is their God?

29:002:018 Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his
           people.

29:002:019 Yea, the LORD will answer and say 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 heathen:

29:002:020 But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will
           drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face
           toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost
           sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall
           come up, because he hath done great things.

29:002:021 Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do
           great things.

29:002:022 Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the
           wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig
           tree and the vine do yield their strength.

29:002:023 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD
           your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately,
           and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former
           rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

29:002:024 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall
           overflow with wine and oil.

29:002:025 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath
           eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the
           palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

29:002:026 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the
           name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with
           you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

29:002:027 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I
           am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never
           be ashamed.

29:002:028 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:

29:002:029 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those
           days will I pour out my spirit.

29:002:030 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth,
           blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

29:002:031 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into
           blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come.

29:002:032 And 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 shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in
           the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

29:003:001 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall
           bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

29:003:002 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into
           the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for
           my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered
           among the nations, and parted my land.

29:003:003 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy
           for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might
           drink.

29:003:004 Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and
           all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence?
           and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return
           your recompence upon your own head;

29:003:005 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried
           into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

29:003:006 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have
           ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from
           their border.

29:003:007 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have
           sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:

29:003:008 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of
           the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the
           Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

29:003:009 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the
           mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come
           up:

29:003:010 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruninghooks into
           spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

29:003:011 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather
           yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones
           to come down, O LORD.

29:003:012 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of
           Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen
           round about.

29:003:013 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you
           down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their
           wickedness is great.

29:003:014 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day
           of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

29:003:015 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall
           withdraw their shining.

29:003:016 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from
           Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the
           LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the
           children of Israel.

29:003:017 So 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.

29:003:018 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains
           shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk,
           and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a
           fountain shall come forth out of the house of the LORD, and
           shall water the valley of Shittim.

29:003:019 Egypt 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.

29:003:020 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation
           to generation.

29:003:021 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for
           the LORD dwelleth in Zion.