Joe 2:12-17 | ESV | STEP | Yet even now , declares the Lord , return to me with all your heart , with fasting , with weeping , and with mourning ;

Joel 2:12-17

Return to the Lord

12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
^a“return to me with all your heart,
^bwith fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and ^crend your hearts and not ^dyour garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
^efor he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
^fand he relents over disaster.
14 ^gWho knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and ^hleave a blessing behind him,
ⁱa grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God?
15 ^jBlow the trumpet in Zion;
^kconsecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16 gather the people.
^lConsecrate the congregation;
assemble the elders;
^mgather the children,
even nursing infants.
ⁿLet the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
17 ^oBetween the ^pvestibule and the ^qaltar
^rlet 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}
^tWhy should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”