make inquisition for their blood, and will not pass it over revenged: and the Lord will dwell in Sion.
I. A word of the Lard which came to Joel son of BathueL
2 HEAR these things ye elders ! And give ear all ye inhabitants of the land ! Have such things happened in your days,
3 or in the days of your fathers? Of these things give an account to your children; and let your children tell their children; and their childrenj another generation.
4 The leavings of the palmer worm have been devoured by the grasshopper, and the leavings of the grasshopper have been devoured by the locust. And the mildew hath consumed what the locust left.
5 Awake ye drunkards, from your wine and weep. Sing a mournful song all ye who drink wine to drunkenness; for joy
6 and gladness are gone from your mouth. For against my land a nation is come up, strong and innumerable. Their teeth art the teeth of lions; and their grinders, those of a young lion.
7 They have made my vineyard a desolation; and my fig orchards, a waste. They have searched it thoroughly and it is gone to wreck; they have made the branches thereof white.
8 Let thy song of woe before me be more plaintive than that of a bride clothed with sackcloth for the husband 'of her youth.
9 Sacrifice and libation are taken away from the house of the Lord. Mourn ye priests, who minister at the Lord's altar, because
10 the fields are wasted. Let the land mourn : because the corn hath suffered grievously : wine is dried away; oil is diminish-
11 ed; husbandmen are parched up. Mourn, ye farms, for the wheat and barley, because the harvester is perished from the
12 field. The vines are withered and the fig trees are diminished; peach and palm and citron trees and all the trees of. the
13 field are withered. Because the children of men are ashamed
of joy, gird yourselves, ye priests, and lament bitterly : sing the song of woe, ye who minister at the altar; go in and sleep L4 in sackcloth, ye ministers of God. Because sacrifice and libation are withheld from the house of your God. Set apart a fast; proclaim a solemn service; assemble the elders—all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of your God, and cry to the Lord incessantly, " Ah me ! Ah me ! Ah me! for the day."
15 For the day of the Lord is at hand; and it will come like de-
16 striiction on destruction. Food is utterly destroyed before your
17 eyes—joy and gladness, from the house of your God. The heifers startled at their stalls. Stores are exhausted; wine lakes
18 are gone to ruin. As the com is blasted, what shall we substitute for ourselves? The herds of cattle uttered mournful lowings, because there was no pasture for them; and the flocks
19 of sheep are utterly destroyed. To thee, O Lord, let me cry for myself, because a fire hath consumed the pleasant places of the wilderness, and a flame hath blasted all the trees of the
20 field. To thee indeed the cattle in the plain have looked up, because the springs of water are quite dry, and a fire hath devoured the pleasant places of the wilderness.
II. Blow the trumpet in Sion; make proclamation on my holy mountain. And let all the inhabitants of the land be alarmed.
2 For the day of the Lord is approaching—for it is near—a day of darkness and gloom—a day of clouds and thick darkness. Like dawn, there shall be poured out on the mountains a people numerous and powerful, the like of them hath never been,
3 nor shall be any more to the years of all generations. Before them is a kindling fire, and all behind them a glowing flame. Before them the land is like a pleasure garden, and behind them, a scene of desolation : and there is none who can escape
4 them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and
5 like horsemen they can pursue. With a noise like that of chariots they will bound over the tops of mountains and their noise is like that of a flaming fire consuming stubble. They are like a people numerous and powerful, arrayed for battle.
G At their presence peoples will be appalled and every face
7 covered with blackness. They can run like warriors and like mighty warriors scale walls; and every one will march in his
8 own path. They will not alter their lines of march; nor will any
one separate from his comrade. They will march loaded with
their arms, and though they fall on their weapons they shafl
9 not be killed. They will surprise the city and run upon lie
Wiills; they will climb up the houses and enter at windows like
10 thieves. At their presence the earth will be confounded and the heaven shaken, and the sun and the moon will be darkened, and the stars will withdraw their refulgence, and the Lord
11 will utter his voice before his army. Because the circuit of his camp is very large—because the operation of his words is ir- resistable—because the day of the Lord is great, extremely
12 awful; who therefore shall be able to abide it? Now therefore saith the Lord your God, turn to me with your whole heart, and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning.
13 Rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God; for he is gracious and merciful, long suffering and
14 full of compassion, and relenteth at evils. Who knoweth but he will turn and relent, and leave behind him a blessing and a sacrifice and a libation for the Lord your God.
15 Sound the trumpet in Sion. Appoint a fast; proclaim a
16 solemn act of worship. Assemble the people; sanctify the congregation ; choose elders. Bring together infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom come forth from his chamber and
17 the bride from her Wardrobe. At the foot of the altar, let the priests who minister to the Lord, weep, and say, Spare, O Lord, thy people; and give not up thy heritage to reproach— for the nations to rule over them.
18 That they may not say among the nations, "Where is their ]
19 God?" the Lord was indeed jealous for his land and spared his people. And the Lord answered and said to his people, Behold I will send you corn and wine and oil, and with them you shall be plentifully supplied. And I will no more make you a
20 reproach among the nations. This army from the north I will remove from you, and drive it to aland without water, and destroy its front in the first and its rear in the last sea : and
21 its smell shall come up and its stench shall ascend, because it hath magnified its works.
(p) Take courage, O land, rejoice and be glad ; for H is
22 the Lord who made it great to perform exploits. Take courage, O beasts of the field; for the plains of the wilderness are
in bloom. Because the trees have yielded their fruit—the fig
3 tree and the vine have put forth their strength; rejoice therefore, ye children of Sion and exult in the Lord your God : for he hath given you this food for righteousness, and he will dis-
4 til upon you the former and the latter rain as heretofore. And your threshing floors shall be filled with corn, and your vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
5 (J) I will indeed make you compensation for what hath been devoured by the grasshopper and the locust, the palmer worm and the mildew—that great army of mine which I sent
!6 against you. And you shall eat plentifully and be satisfied, and shall praise the name of the Lord your God, who hath dealt wonderfully with you; and my people shall never be put to
!7 shame. And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I the Lord am your God and besides me there is no
!8 other; and my people shall never be put to shame. And it shall come to pass after these things that I will pour out a portion of my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; and your old men shall dream dreams; and
19 your young men shall see visions. And on my servants and on my hand maids in those days I will pour out a portion of my
10 spirit. And I will exhibit wonders in heaven and on the earth,
11 blood and fire and smoky vapour. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of
52 the great and illustrious day of the Lord. But whoever will call on the name of the Lord shall be saved; for on mount Sion and in Jerusalem shall be the Saviour, as the Lord hath said, and the publishers of glad tidings, whom the Lord hath called.
[II. Because, lo! Here I am in those days and at that time when
2 I have brought back the captivity of Juda and Jerusalem; and I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Josaphat and plead with them there for my people and my heritage, Israel, who have been scattered among the nations.
3 They indeed divided my land among themselves and cast lots for my people; they gave my boys to harlots and sold my
4 girls for wine and drank it. Now what have you, Tyre and Si- don and all Galilee of foreign tribes, to do with me? Are you rendering me a retribution? Or are you venting your spite against me? On your heads I will severely and speedily return
5 your retribution. Because you have taken my silver and my
6 gold, and carried my choicest goods into your temples, and sold the sons of Juda and the sons of Jerusalem to the Greeks.
7 that you might remove them far from their borders; therefore behold I will raise diem up from the places whitfier you sold
8 them, and return your retribution on your heads. And I will deliver your sons and your daughters into the hands of the sons of Juda, that they may sell them as captives to a far distant nation.
9 Because the Lord hath spoken, proclaim these things among the nations. Declare war : rouse the warriors : assem-
10 ble and march up, all yc men of war. Beat your ploughshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak
11 say, I am strong. Assemble and come all ye nations around and be there gathered together. Let the man of peace become
12 a soldier. Let all the nations be roused and come up to the valley of Josaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the nations
13 around. Put to the sickles, for the liarvest is come; go in and tread for the vat is full. Cause the wine lakes to overflow; for
14 their wicked deeds have been multiplied. Screams resound in the valley of Judgment! Because the day of the Lord in the vaJ-
15 ley of Judgment is at hand. The sun and the moon sliall be obscured in darkness; and the stars shall withdraw their reful-
16 gence; and the Lord will utter a shout from Sion, and from Jerusalem he will send forth his voice; and the heaven and the earth shall be shaken: but the Lord will spare his
17 people and strengthen the sons of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwell in Sion my holy mountain, and Jerusalem shall be holy and strangers shall no
18 more pass through it. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall distil new wine ; and the hills shall send forth streams of milk; and all the fountains of Juda shall pour out water; and a fountain sliall issue from the house
19 of the Lord, which shall water the valley of bulrushes. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Idumea a scene of destruction, for the injuries done to the children of Juda—for their having shed
20 innocent blood in their land : but Judea shall be inhabited for
21 ever, and Jerusalem for generations of generations: and I will
