Joe 1-2 | ESV | STEP | The word of the Lord that came to Joel , the son of Pethuel :

2 ^aHear this, ^byou elders;
give ear, ^call inhabitants of the land!
^dHas such a thing happened in your days,
or in the days of your fathers?
3 ^eTell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children to another generation.
4 What ^fthe cutting locust left,
^gthe swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
^hthe hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
ⁱthe destroying locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and ^jwail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of ^kthe sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For ^la nation has come up against my land,
^mpowerful and beyond number;
ⁿits teeth are lions’ teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vine
and splintered my ^ofig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin ^{▼▼Or young woman} ^qwearing sackcloth
for the bridegroom of her youth.
9 ^rThe grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the Lord.
^sThe priests mourn,
^tthe ministers of the Lord.
10 The fields are destroyed,
^uthe ground mourns,
because ^vthe grain is destroyed,
^wthe wine dries up,
the oil languishes.
11 ^xBe ashamed, ^{▼▼The Hebrew words for dry up and be ashamed in verses 10–12, 17 sound alike} O tillers of the soil;
wail, O vinedressers,
for the wheat and the barley,
^zbecause the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine dries up;
^aathe fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
all the trees of the field are dried up,
and ^abgladness dries up
from the children of man.

A Call to Repentance

13 ^acPut on sackcloth and lament, ^adO priests;
^aewail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, ^afpass the night in sackcloth,
^agO ministers of my God!
^ahBecause grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 ^aiConsecrate a fast;
^ajcall a solemn assembly.
Gather ^akthe elders
and ^alall the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for the day!
^amFor the day of the Lord is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty ^{▼▼ Destruction sounds like the Hebrew for Almighty} it comes.
16 Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
^aojoy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17 ^apThe seed shrivels under the clods; ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew line is uncertain}
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
because ^arthe grain has dried up.
18 How ^asthe beasts groan!
The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep suffer. ^{▼▼Or are made desolate}
19 To you, ^auO Lord, I call.
^avFor fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness,
^awand flame has burned
all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field ^axpant for you
because the water brooks are dried up,
^ayand fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.

Joel 2

The Day of the Lord

1 ^azBlow a trumpet in ^baZion;
sound an alarm on ^bbmy holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for ^bcthe day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
2 ^bda day of darkness and gloom,
^bea day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
^bfa great and powerful people;
^bgtheir like has never been before,
nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations.
3 ^bhFire devours before them,
and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like ^bithe garden of Eden before them,
but ^bjbehind them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them.
4 ^bkTheir appearance is like the appearance of horses,
and like war horses they run.
5 ^blAs with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of ^bma flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
^bnlike a powerful army
drawn up for battle.
6 Before them peoples are in anguish;
^boall faces grow pale.
7 Like warriors they charge;
like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
they do not swerve from their paths.
8 They do not jostle one another;
^bpeach marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
and are not halted.
9 ^bqThey leap upon the city,
they run upon the walls,
^brthey climb up into the houses,
^bsthey enter through the windows ^btlike a thief.
10 ^buThe earth quakes before them;
the heavens tremble.
^bvThe sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
11 ^bwThe Lord utters his voice
before ^bxhis army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
^byhe who executes his word is powerful.
^bzFor the day of the Lord is ^cagreat and very awesome;
^cbwho can endure it?

Return to the Lord

12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
^cc“return to me with all your heart,
^cdwith fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and ^cerend your hearts and not ^cfyour garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
^cgfor he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
^chand he relents over disaster.
14 ^ciWho knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and ^cjleave a blessing behind him,
^cka grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God?
15 ^clBlow the trumpet in Zion;
^cmconsecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16 gather the people.
^cnConsecrate the congregation;
assemble the elders;
^cogather the children,
even nursing infants.
^cpLet the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
17 ^cqBetween the ^crvestibule and the ^csaltar
^ctlet the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
a byword among the nations. ^{▼▼Or reproach, that the nations should rule over them}
^cvWhy should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”

The Lord Had Pity

18 ^cwThen the Lord became jealous for his land
^cxand had pity on his people.
19 The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, ^cyI am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
^czand you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations.
20 “I will remove the northerner far from you,
and drive him into a parched and desolate land,
his vanguard ^{▼▼Hebrew face} into ^dbthe eastern sea,
and his rear guard ^{▼▼Hebrew his end} into ^ddthe western sea;
^dethe stench and foul smell of him will rise,
for he has done great things.
21 “Fear not, O land;
be glad and rejoice,
for ^dfthe Lord has done great things!
22 Fear not, ^dgyou beasts of the field,
for ^dhthe pastures of the wilderness are green;
^dithe tree bears its fruit;
the fig tree and ^djvine give their full yield.
23 ^dk“Be glad, O children of Zion,
and ^dlrejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given ^dmthe early rain for your vindication;
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
^dnthe early and ^dothe latter rain, as before.
24 “The threshing floors shall be full of grain;
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 I will restore ^{▼▼Or pay back} to you the years
that ^dqthe swarming locust has eaten,
^drthe hopper, ^dsthe destroyer, and ^dtthe cutter,
^dumy great army, which I sent among you.
26 ^dv“You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people ^dwshall never again be put to shame.
27 ^dxYou shall know that I am ^dyin the midst of Israel,
and that ^dzI am the Lord your God ^eaand there is none else.
And my people ^ebshall never again be put to shame.

The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit

28 ^{▼▼Ch 3:1 in Hebrew} ^ed“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that ^eeI will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
^efyour sons and ^egyour daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
29 ^ehEven on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30 “And I will show ^eiwonders in the heavens and ^ejon the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 ^ekThe sun shall be turned to darkness, ^eland the moon to blood, ^embefore the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that ^eneveryone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. ^eoFor in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among ^epthe survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.