Bible (American Standard)/Joel

Joel
==Chapter 1==
 The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of
Pethuel. 
 Hear 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? 
 Tell ye your children of it, and
[let] your children [tell] their children, and their children
another generation. 
 That 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 caterpillar eaten. 
 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep;
and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine;
for it is cut off from your mouth. 
 For a nation is come up
upon my land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the
teeth of a lion, and he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness. 
 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. 
 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the
husband of her youth. 
 The meal-offering and the
drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah; the
priests, Jehovah's ministers, mourn. 
 The field is laid
waste, the land mourneth; for the grain is destroyed, the new
wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. 
 Be confounded, O
ye husbandmen, wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for
the barley; for the harvest of the field is perished. 
 The
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. 
 Gird yourselves [with
sackcloth], 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 are withholden from
the house of your God. 
 Sanctify a fast, call a solemn
assembly, gather the old men [and] all the inhabitants of the
land unto the house of Jehovah your God, and cry unto Jehovah.
 Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and
as destruction from the Almighty shall it come. 
 Is not
the food cut off before our eyes, [yea], joy and gladness from
the house of our God? 
 The seeds rot under their clods;
the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for
the grain is withered. 
 How do the beasts groan! the herds
of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the
flocks of sheep are made desolate. 
 O Jehovah, to thee do
I cry; for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the
wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the
field. 
 Yea, 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 trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my
holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for
the day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand; 
 a day
of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
as the dawn spread upon the mountains; a great people and a
strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any
more after them, even to the years of many generations. 
 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 none hath escaped them. 
 The
appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as
horsemen, so do they run. 
 Like 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 strong people set
in battle array. 
 At their presence the peoples are in
anguish; all faces are waxed pale. 
 They run like mighty
men; they climb the wall like men of war; and they march every
one on his ways, and they break not their ranks. 
 Neither
doth one thrust another; they march every one in his path; and
they burst through the weapons, and break not off [their
course]. 
 They leap upon the city; they run upon the wall;
they climb up into the houses; they enter in at the windows like
a thief. 
 The earth quaketh before them; the heavens
tremble; the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars
withdraw their shining. 
 And Jehovah uttereth his voice
before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong
that executeth his word; for the day of Jehovah is great and
very terrible; and who can abide it? 
 Yet even now, saith
Jehovah, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting,
and with weeping, and with mourning: 
 and rend your heart,
and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God; for he is
gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in
lovingkindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 
 Who
knoweth whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a
blessing behind him, even a meal-offering and a drink-offering
unto Jehovah your God? 
 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify
a fast, call a solemn assembly; 
 gather the people,
sanctify the assembly, assemble the old men, gather the
children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go
forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 
 Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the
porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O
Jehovah, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the nations
should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the
peoples, Where is their God? 
 Then was Jehovah jealous for
his land, and had pity on his people. 
 And Jehovah
answered and said unto his people, Behold, I will send you
grain, and new wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied
therewith; and I will no more make you a reproach among the
nations; 
 but I will remove far off from you the northern
[army], and will drive it into a land barren and desolate, its
forepart into the eastern sea, and its hinder part into the
western sea; and its stench shall come up, and its ill savor
shall come up, because it hath done great things. 
 Fear
not, O land, be glad and rejoice; for Jehovah hath done great
things. 
 Be 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. 
 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in Jehovah 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, in the first [month]. 
 And the floors shall
be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and
oil. 
 And I will restore to you the years that the locust
hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the
palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you. 
 And ye
shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and shall praise the name
of Jehovah your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you; and my
people shall never be put to shame. 
 And ye shall know
that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am Jehovah your
God, and there is none else; and my people shall never be put to
shame. 
 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: 
 and also upon the servants
and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.
 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 
 The sun shall be
turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great
and terrible day of Jehovah cometh. 
 And it shall come to
pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be
delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be
those that escape, as Jehovah hath said, and among the remnant
those whom Jehovah doth call.
==Chapter 3==
 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I
shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 
 I
will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the
valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment upon them
there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have
scattered among the nations: and they have parted my land, 
 and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a
harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink. 
 Yea, and what are ye to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the
regions of Philistia? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye
recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your
recompense upon your own head. 
 Forasmuch as ye have taken
my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my
goodly precious things, 
 and have sold the children of
Judah and the children of Jerusalem unto the sons of the
Grecians, that ye may remove them far from their border; 
 behold, I will stir them up out of the place whither ye have
sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head;
 and 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 Jehovah hath spoken it. 
 Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the
mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.
 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks
into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. 
 Haste ye, and
come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves
together: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Jehovah.
 Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the
valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the
nations round about. 
 Put 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. 
 Multitudes,
multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of Jehovah is
near in the valley of decision. 
 The sun and the moon are
darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. 
 And
Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem;
and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but Jehovah will be a
refuge unto his people, and a stronghold to the children of
Israel. 
 So shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God,
dwelling in Zion my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy,
and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. 
 And 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 from the house of Jehovah, and shall water the
valley of Shittim. 
 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom
shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the
children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in
their land. 
 But Judah shall abide for ever, and Jerusalem
from generation to generation. 
 And I will cleanse their
blood, that I have not cleansed: for Jehovah dwelleth in Zion.