JOE 1:1 The word
of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
JOE 1:2 Hear this, O elders, And listen, all
inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this
happened in your days Or in your fathers' days?
JOE 1:3 Tell your sons about it, And let your
sons tell their sons, And their sons the next
generation.
JOE 1:4 What the gnawing locust has left, the
swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming
locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And
what the creeping locust has left, the stripping
locust has eaten.
JOE 1:5 Awake, drunkards, and weep; And wail,
all you wine drinkers, On account of the sweet wine
That is cut off from your mouth.
JOE 1:6 For a nation has invaded my land,
Mighty and without number; Its teeth are the teeth
of a lion, And it has the fangs of a lioness.
JOE 1:7 It has made my vine a waste, And my
fig tree splinters. It has stripped them bare and
cast them away; Their branches have become #663300.
JOE 1:8 Wail like a virgin girded with
sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth.
JOE 1:9 The grain offering and the libation
are cut off From the house of the Lord. The priests
mourn, The ministers of the Lord.
JOE 1:10 The field is ruined, The land
mourns, For the grain is ruined, The new wine dries
up, Fresh oil fails.
JOE 1:11 Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O
vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because
the harvest of the field is destroyed.
JOE 1:12 The vine dries up, And the fig tree
fails; The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple
tree, All the trees of the field dry up. Indeed,
rejoicing dries up From the sons of men.
JOE 1:13 Gird yourselves with sackcloth, And
lament, O priests; Wail, O ministers of the altar!
Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of
my God, For the grain offering and the libation Are
withheld from the house of your God.
JOE 1:14 Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a solemn
assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants
of the land To the house of the Lord your God, And
cry out to the Lord.
JOE 1:15 Alas for the day! For the day of the
Lord is near, And it will come as destruction from
the Almighty.
JOE 1:16 Has not food been cut off before our
eyes, Gladness and joy from the house of our God?
JOE 1:17 The seeds shrivel under their clods;
The storehouses are desolate, The barns are torn
down, For the grain is dried up.
JOE 1:18 How the beasts groan! The herds of
cattle wander aimlessly Because there is no pasture
for them; Even the flocks of sheep suffer.
JOE 1:19 To Thee, O Lord, I cry; For fire has
devoured the pastures of the wilderness, And the
flame has burned up all the trees of the field.
JOE 1:20 Even the beasts of the field pant
for Thee; For the water brooks are dried up, And
fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
Top of Page
JOE 2:1 Blow a
trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy
mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land
tremble, For the day of the Lord is coming; Surely
it is near,
JOE 2:2 A day of darkness and gloom, A day of
clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread
over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty
people; There has never been anything like it, Nor
will there be again after it To the years of many
generations.
JOE 2:3 A fire consumes before them, And
behind them a flame burns. The land is like the
garden of Eden before them, But a desolate
wilderness behind them, And nothing at all escapes
them.
JOE 2:4 Their appearance is like the
appearance of horses; And like war horses, so they
run.
JOE 2:5 With a noise as of chariots They leap
on the tops of the mountains, Like the crackling of
a flame of fire consuming the stubble, Like a mighty
people arranged for battle.
JOE 2:6 Before them the people are in
anguish; All faces turn pale.
JOE 2:7 They run like mighty men; They climb
the wall like soldiers; And they each march in line,
Nor do they deviate from their paths.
JOE 2:8 They do not crowd each other; They
march everyone in his path. When they burst through
the defenses, They do not break ranks.
JOE 2:9 They rush on the city, They run on
the wall; They climb into the houses, They enter
through the windows like a thief.
JOE 2:10 Before them the earth quakes, The
heavens tremble, The sun and the moon grow dark, And
the stars lose their brightness.
JOE 2:11 And the Lord utters His voice before
His army; Surely His camp is very great, For strong
is he who carries out His word. The day of the Lord
is indeed great and very awesome, And who can endure
it?
JOE 2:12 "Yet even now," declares the Lord,
"Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting,
weeping, and mourning;
JOE 2:13 And rend your heart and not your
garments."Now return to the Lord your God, For He is
gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding
in lovingkindness, And relenting of evil.
JOE 2:14 Who knows whether He will not turn
and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a
grain offering and a libation For the Lord your God?
JOE 2:15 Blow a trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a
fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,
JOE 2:16 Gather the people, sanctify the
congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the
children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom
come out of his room And the bride out of her bridal
chamber.
JOE 2:17 Let the priests, the Lord's
ministers, Weep between the porch and the altar, And
let them say, "Spare Thy people, O Lord, And do not
make Thine inheritance a reproach, A byword among
the nations. Why should they among the peoples say,
'Where is their God?'"
JOE 2:18 Then the Lord will be zealous for
His land, And will have pity on His people.
JOE 2:19 And the Lord will answer and say to
His people, "Behold, I am going to send you grain,
new wine, and oil, And you will be satisfied in full
with them; And I will never again make you a
reproach among the nations.
JOE 2:20 "But I will remove the northern army
far from you, And I will drive it into a parched and
desolate land, And its vanguard into the eastern
sea, And its rear guard into the western sea. And
its stench will arise and its foul smell will come
up, For it has done great things."
JOE 2:21 Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be
glad, For the Lord has done great things.
JOE 2:22 Do not fear, beasts of the field,
For the pastures of the wilderness have turned
green, For the tree has borne its fruit, The fig
tree and the vine have yielded in full.
JOE 2:23 So rejoice, O sons of Zion, And be
glad in the Lord your God; For He has given you the
early rain for your vindication. And He has poured
down for you the rain, The early and latter rain as
before.
JOE 2:24 And the threshing floors will be
full of grain, And the vats will overflow with the
new wine and oil.
JOE 2:25 "Then I will make up to you for the
years That the swarming locust has eaten, The
creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the
gnawing locust, My great army which I sent among
you.
JOE 2:26 "And you shall have plenty to eat
and be satisfied, And praise the name of the Lord
your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; Then My
people will never be put to shame.
JOE 2:27 "Thus you will know that I am in the
midst of Israel, And that I am the Lord your God And
there is no other; And My people will never be put
to shame.
JOE 2:28 "And it will come about after this
That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And
your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men
will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions.
JOE 2:29 "And even on the male and female
servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
JOE 2:30 "And I will display wonders in the
sky and on the earth, Blood, fire, and columns of
smoke.
JOE 2:31 "The sun will be turned into
darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the great
and awesome day of the Lord comes.
JOE 2:32 "And it will come about that whoever
calls on the name of the Lord Will be delivered; For
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those
who escape, As the Lord has said, Even among the
survivors whom the Lord calls.
Top of Page
JOE 3:1 "For
behold, in those days and at that time, When I
restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
JOE 3:2 I will gather all the nations, And
bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I
will enter into judgment with them there On behalf
of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they
have scattered among the nations; And they have
divided up My land.
JOE 3:3 "They have also cast lots for My
people, Traded a boy for a harlot, And sold a girl
for wine that they may drink.
JOE 3:4 "Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre,
Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you
rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense
Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your
recompense on your head.
JOE 3:5 "Since you have taken My silver and
My gold, brought My precious treasures to your
temples,
JOE 3:6 and sold the sons of Judah and
Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far
from their territory,
JOE 3:7 behold, I am going to arouse them
from the place where you have sold them, and return
your recompense on your head.
JOE 3:8 "Also I will sell your sons and your
daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and
they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant
nation," for the Lord has spoken.
JOE 3:9 Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men! Let all the
soldiers draw near, let them come up!
JOE 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords,
And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak
say, "I am a mighty man."
JOE 3:11 Hasten and come, all you surrounding
nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O
Lord, Thy mighty ones.
JOE 3:12 Let the nations be aroused And come
up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will
sit to judge All the surrounding nations.
JOE 3:13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest
is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full;
The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.
JOE 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley
of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the
valley of decision.
JOE 3:15 The sun and moon grow dark, And the
stars lose their brightness.
JOE 3:16 And the Lord roars from Zion And
utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and
the earth tremble. But the Lord is a refuge for His
people And a stronghold to the sons of Israel.
JOE 3:17 Then you will know that I am the
Lord your God, Dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. So
Jerusalem will be holy, And strangers will pass
through it no more.
JOE 3:18 And it will come about in that day
That the mountains will drip with sweet wine, And
the hills will flow with milk, And all the brooks of
Judah will flow with water; And a spring will go out
from the house of the Lord, To water the valley of
Shittim.
JOE 3:19 Egypt will become a waste, And Edom
will become a desolate wilderness, Because of the
violence done to the sons of Judah, In whose land
they have shed innocent blood.
JOE 3:20 But Judah will be inhabited forever,
And Jerusalem for all generations.
JOE 3:21 And I will avenge their blood which
I have not avenged, For the Lord dwells in Zion.
