Joel
Outline of Contents
Chapter 1
	A severe insect plague (1-14)
	“The day of Jehovah is near” (15-20)
		The prophet calls to Jehovah (19, 20)
Chapter 2
	Jehovah’s day and his great army (1-11)
	A call to return to Jehovah (12-17)
		“Rip apart your hearts” (13)
	Jehovah’s response to his people (18-32)
		“I will pour out my spirit” (28)
		Wonders in heaven and on earth (30)
		Those calling on Jehovah’s name will be saved (32)
Chapter 3
	Jehovah judges all the nations (1-17)
		Valley of Jehoshaphat (2, 12)
		Valley of decision (14)
		Jehovah, a fortress for Israel (16)
	Jehovah blesses his people (18-21)
Chapter 1
1 The word of Jehovah that came to Joel [Meaning “Jehovah Is God.”] the son of Pethuel:
2 “Hear this, you elders,
And pay attention, all you inhabitants of the land. [Or “earth.”]
Has anything like this happened in your days
Or in the days of your forefathers?
3 Tell about it to your sons,
And let your sons tell about it to their sons,
And their sons to the next generation.
4 What was left by the devouring locust, the swarming locust has eaten;
And what was left by the swarming locust, the unwinged locust has eaten;
And what the unwinged locust has left, the voracious locust has eaten.
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
Wail, all you wine drinkers,
Because the sweet wine has been taken from your mouths.
6 For a nation has come up into my land, mighty and without number.
Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its jaws are those of a lion.
7 It has devastated my vine and turned my fig tree into a stump,
Stripping them completely bare and tossing them aside,
Leaving their twigs white.
8 Wail as a virgin [Or “young woman.”] wearing sackcloth does
For the bridegroom [Or “husband.”] of her youth.
9 Grain offering and drink offering have ceased from the house of Jehovah;
The priests, the ministers of Jehovah, are in mourning.
10 The field has been devastated, the ground mourns;
For the grain has been devastated, the new wine has dried up, the oil has failed.
11 Farmers are dismayed, vinedressers wail,
Because of the wheat and the barley;
For the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine has dried up,
The fig tree has withered.
The pomegranate, the palm, and the apple,
All the trees of the field have dried up;
For joy has turned to shame among the people.
13 Put on sackcloth [Literally, “Gird yourselves.”] and mourn, [Or “beat your chest.”] you priests;
Wail, you ministers of the altar.
Come in and spend the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God;
For grain offering and drink offering have been withheld from the house of your God.
14 Proclaim [Literally, “Sanctify.”] a fast; call for a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders together, with all the inhabitants of the land,
To the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to Jehovah for help.
15 Woe because of the day!
For the day of Jehovah is near,
And it will come like a destruction from the Almighty!
16 Has not food been taken from before our very eyes,
And rejoicing and joy from the house of our God?
17 The seeds [Or possibly, “dried figs.”] have shriveled under their shovels.
Storehouses are desolate.
Granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.
18 Even the livestock groan!
The herds of cattle wander in confusion, for they have no pasture!
And the flocks of sheep bear the punishment.
19 To you, O Jehovah, I will call;
For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,
And a flame has consumed all the trees of the field.
20 Even the wild beasts long for you,
Because the streams of water have dried up
And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.”
Chapter 2
1 “Blow a horn in Zion!
Shout a war cry in my holy mountain.
Let all the inhabitants of the land [Or “earth.”] tremble,
For the day of Jehovah is coming! It is near!
2 It is a day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick gloom,
Like light of dawn spreading out on the mountains.
There is a people numerous and mighty;
Never before has there been one like it,
And never again will there be another
Through the years of all generations.
3 Ahead of it a fire devours,
And behind it a flame consumes.
The land ahead of it is like the garden of Eden,
But behind it is a desolate wilderness,
And nothing can escape.
4 Its appearance is like the appearance of horses,
And they run like warhorses.
5 The sound is like that of chariots as they leap on the mountaintops,
Like the crackling of a blazing fire that consumes stubble.
It is like a mighty people drawn up in battle formation.
6 Because of them, peoples will be in anguish.
Every face will grow flushed.
7 They charge like warriors,
They scale a wall like soldiers,
Each keeps to his own course,
And they do not swerve from their paths.
8 They do not shove one another;
Each man advances in his course.
If the weapons [Or “missiles.”] cause some to fall,
The others do not break ranks.
9 Into the city they rush, on the wall they run.
Onto the houses they climb, through the windows they enter like a thief.
10 Before them the land trembles and the heavens rock.
Sun and moon have become dark,
And the stars have lost their brightness.
11 Jehovah will raise his voice before his army, for his camp is very numerous.
For the one carrying out His word is mighty;
For the day of Jehovah is great and very awe-inspiring.
Who can endure it?”
12 “Yet even now,” declares Jehovah, “return to me with all your hearts,
With fasting and weeping and wailing.
13 Rip apart your hearts, and not your garments,
And return to Jehovah your God,
For he is compassionate [Or “gracious.”] and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in loyal love,
And he will reconsider [Or “feel regret over.”] the calamity.
14 Who knows whether he will turn back and reconsider [Or “feel regret.”]
And leave behind a blessing,
A grain offering and a drink offering for Jehovah your God?
15 Blow a horn in Zion!
Proclaim [Literally, “Sanctify.”] a fast; call for a solemn assembly.
16 Gather the people; sanctify the congregation.
Collect the old men; [Or “the elders.”] gather the children and nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom go out from his inner chamber, and the bride from her bridal chamber.
17 Between the porch and the altar
Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep and say:
‘Do feel pity, O Jehovah, for your people;
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
Letting the nations rule over them.
Why should the peoples say, “Where is their God?”’
18 Then Jehovah will be zealous for his land
And show compassion on his people.
19 Jehovah will answer his people:
‘Here I am sending to you grain and new wine and oil,
And you will be fully satisfied;
I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.
20 I will drive the northerner far away from you;
I will disperse him to a dry and desolate wasteland,
With his vanguard [Literally, “face.”] toward the eastern sea [That is, the Dead Sea.]
And his rear guard toward the western sea. [That is, the Mediterranean Sea.]
The foul smell from him will ascend,
The stench from him will keep ascending;
For He will do great things.’
21 Do not be afraid, O land.
Be joyful and rejoice, for Jehovah will do great things.
22 Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field,
For the pastures of the wilderness will become green,
And the trees will bear fruit;
The fig tree and the vine must give their full yield.
23 You sons of Zion, be joyful and rejoice in Jehovah your God;
For he will give you the autumn rain in the right amount,
And he will send upon you a downpour,
The autumn rain and the spring rain, as before.
24 The threshing floors will be full of pure grain,
And the presses will overflow with new wine and oil.
25 And I will make compensation to you for the years
That the swarming locust, the unwinged locust, the voracious locust, and the devouring locust have eaten,
My great army that I sent among you.
26 You will surely eat to satisfaction,
And you will praise the name of Jehovah your God,
Who has done wonders in your behalf;
My people will never again be put to shame.
27 And you will have to know that I am in the midst of Israel
And that I am Jehovah your God—there is no other!
My people will never again be put to shame.
28 After that I will pour out my spirit on every sort of flesh,
And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
And your young men will see visions.
29 And even on my male slaves and female slaves
I will pour out my spirit in those days.
30 And I will give wonders [Or “portents.”] in the heavens and on the earth,
Blood and fire and columns of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood
Before the coming of the great and awe-inspiring day of Jehovah.
32 And everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved;
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, just as Jehovah has said,
The survivors whom Jehovah calls.”
Chapter 3
1 “For look! in those days and in that time,
When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will also gather together all the nations
And bring them down to the Valley [Or “Low Plain.”] of Jehoshaphat. [Meaning “Jehovah Is Judge.”]
I will enter into judgment with them there
In behalf of my people and my inheritance Israel,
For they scattered them among the nations,
And they divided up my land among themselves.
3 For my people they cast lots;
They would trade a boy to hire a prostitute
And sell a girl for wine to drink.
4 Also, what do you have against me,
O Tyre and Sidon and all the regions of Philistia?
Are you repaying me for something?
If you are repaying me,
I will swiftly, speedily bring your repayment on your heads.
5 Because you have taken my silver and gold,
And you have brought my finest treasures into your temples;
6 And the people of Judah and Jerusalem you have sold to the Greeks,
In order to remove them far from their territory;
7 Here I am rousing them to come from the place where you sold them,
And I will bring your repayment on your heads.
8 I will sell your sons and daughters into the hand of the people of Judah,
And they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a nation far away;
For Jehovah himself has spoken it.
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
‘Prepare for [Literally, “Sanctify.”] war! Stir up the mighty men!
Let all the soldiers draw near, let them advance!
10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning shears into spears. [Or “lances.”]
Let the weak one say: “I am powerful.”
11 Come and help, all you surrounding nations, assemble together!’”
To that place, O Jehovah, bring down your powerful ones. [Or “your warriors.”]
12 “Let the nations be roused and come up to the Valley [Or “Low Plain.”] of Jehoshaphat;
For there I will sit in order to judge all the surrounding nations.
13 Thrust in a sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come down and tread, for the winepress is full.
The vats overflow, for their badness is abundant.
14 Crowds, crowds are in the valley [Or “low plain.”] of the decision,
For the day of Jehovah is near in the valley [Or “low plain.”] of the decision.
15 Sun and moon will become dark,
And the stars will lose their brightness.
16 And Jehovah will roar out of Zion,
Out of Jerusalem he will raise his voice.
And heaven and earth will rock;
But Jehovah will be a refuge for his people,
A fortress for the people of Israel.
17 And you will have to know that I am Jehovah your God, residing in Zion, my holy mountain.
Jerusalem will become a holy place,
And strangers [Or “foreigners.”] will pass through her no more.
18 In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine,
The hills will flow with milk,
And the streams of Judah will all flow with water.
Out of the house of Jehovah a spring will flow,
And it will irrigate the Valley [Or “Wadi.”] of the Acacia Trees.
19 But Egypt will become desolate,
And Edom will be a desolate wilderness,
Because of the violence done to the people of Judah,
In whose land they shed innocent blood.
20 But Judah will always be inhabited,
And Jerusalem to generation after generation.
21 I will consider innocent their blood [Or “bloodguilt.”] that I had not considered innocent;
And Jehovah will reside in Zion.”