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The Holy
Bible
Joel
Chapter 1
1 The word of the LORD
that came to Joel the son of
Pethuel.
2 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?
3 Tell ye your children of
it, and let your children tell
their children, and their
children another generation.
4 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.
5 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.
6 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.
7 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.
8 Lament like a virgin
girded with sackcloth for the
husband of her youth.
9 The meat offering and
the drink offering is cut off
from the house of the LORD; the
priests, the LORD's ministers,
mourn.
10 The field is wasted,
the land mourneth; for the corn
is wasted: the new wine is dried
up, the oil languisheth.
11 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.
12 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.
13 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.
14 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,
15 Alas for the day! for
the day of the LORD is at hand,
and as a destruction from the
Almighty shall it come.
16 Is not the meat cut off
before our eyes, yea, joy and
gladness from the house of our
God?
17 The seed is rotten
under their clods, the garners
are laid desolate, the barns are
broken down; for the corn is
withered.
18 How do the beasts
groan! the herds of cattle are
perplexed, because they have no
pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep
are made desolate.
19 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.
20 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.
Chapter 2
1 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;
2 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.
3 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.
4 The appearance of them
is as the appearance of horses;
and as horsemen, so shall they
run.
5 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.
6 Before their face the
people shall be much pained: all
faces shall gather blackness.
7 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:
8 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.
9 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.
10 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:
11 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?
12 Therefore also now,
saith the LORD, turn ye even to
me with all your heart, and with
fasting, and with weeping, and
with mourning:
13 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.
14 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?
15 Blow the trumpet in
Zion, sanctify a fast, call a
solemn assembly:
16 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.
17 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?
18 Then will the LORD be
jealous for his land, and pity
his people.
19 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:
20 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.
21 Fear not, O land; be
glad and rejoice: for the LORD
will do great things.
22 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.
23 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.
24 And the floors shall be
full of wheat, and the fats shall
overflow with wine and oil.
25 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.
26 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.
27 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.
28 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 And also upon the
servants and upon the handmaids
in those days will I pour out my
spirit.
30 And I will shew wonders
in the heavens and in the earth,
blood, and fire, and pillars of
smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned
into darkness, and the moon into
blood, before the great and the
terrible day of the LORD
come.
32 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.
Chapter 3
1 For, behold, in those
days, and in that time, when I
shall bring again the captivity
of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 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.
3 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.
4 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 recompence me, swiftly
and speedily will I return your
recompence upon your own
head;
5 Because ye have taken my
silver and my gold, and have
carried into your temples my
goodly pleasant things:
6 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.
7 Behold, I will raise
them out of the place whither ye
have sold them, and will return
your recompence upon your own
head:
8 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.
9 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:
10 Beat your plowshares
into swords, and your
pruninghooks into spears: let the
weak say, I am strong.
11 Assemble yourselves,
and come, all ye heathen, and
gather yourselves together round
about: thither cause thy mighty
ones to come down, O LORD.
12 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.
13 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.
14 Multitudes, multitudes
in the valley of decision: for
the day of the LORD is near in
the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon
shall be darkened, and the stars
shall withdraw their shining.
16 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.
17 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.
18 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 of
the house of the LORD, and shall
water the valley of Shittim.
19 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.
20 But Judah shall dwell
for ever, and Jerusalem from
generation to generation.
21 For I will cleanse
their blood that I have not
cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth
in Zion.
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