This message from the LORD came to Pethuel's son Joel.

Pass it on to your children, and from your children to their children, and from their children to the following generation.

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.

The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD'S ministers, mourn.

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.

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.

Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

What sounds of pain come from the beasts! the herds of cattle are at a loss because there is no grass for them; even the flocks of sheep are no longer to be seen.

A day of darkness and thick darkness, A day of cloud and thick darkness, As darkness spread on the mountains, A people numerous and mighty, Like it there hath not been from of old, And after it there is not again -- till the years of generation and generation.

A fire destroys in front of them,
and behind them a flame devours.
The land in front of them
is like the Garden of Eden,
but behind them,
it is like a desert wasteland;
there is no escape from them.

Their form is like the form of horses, and they are running like war-horses.

They leap like the rumbling of chariots echoing from mountain tops, like the roar of wild fire that devours the chaff, as an army firmly established in battle array.

From its face pained are peoples, All faces have gathered paleness.

They run like mighty warriors, they scale the wall like men of war; each goes on its own way, and they do not swerve [from] their paths.

But even now, says the Lord, come back to me with all your heart, keeping from food, with weeping and with sorrow:

Rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to Yahweh your God, because he [is] gracious and compassionate, {slow to anger} and great in loyal love, and relenting from harm.

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, those who serve the Lord, weep from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. Let them say, "Have pity, O Lord, on your people; please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked, to become a proverb among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, "Where is their God?"

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.

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.

Look! I [am] rousing them from the place where you have sold them, and I will return what you deserve on your head!

Hurry and come, all the nations, from all around, and gather [yourselves] there. Bring down your mighty warriors, O Yahweh!

Let the nations be roused and let them come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations from all around.

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.

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 ruin, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, from violence done to the sons of Judah, whose innocent blood they poured out in their land.

But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

And I will purge them from the blood from which I had not purged them: for Jehovah dwelleth in Zion.