Joe 2-3 | ESV | STEP | Blow a trumpet in Zion ; sound an alarm on my holy mountain ! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble , for the day of the Lord is coming ; it is near ,

1 ^aBlow a trumpet in ^bZion;
sound an alarm on ^cmy holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for ^dthe day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
2 ^ea day of darkness and gloom,
^fa day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
^ga great and powerful people;
^htheir like has never been before,
nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations.
3 ⁱFire devours before them,
and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like ^jthe garden of Eden before them,
but ^kbehind them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them.
4 ^lTheir appearance is like the appearance of horses,
and like war horses they run.
5 ^mAs with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of ⁿa flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
^olike a powerful army
drawn up for battle.
6 Before them peoples are in anguish;
^pall 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;
^qeach marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
and are not halted.
9 ^rThey leap upon the city,
they run upon the walls,
^sthey climb up into the houses,
^tthey enter through the windows ^ulike a thief.
10 ^vThe earth quakes before them;
the heavens tremble.
^wThe sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
11 ^xThe Lord utters his voice
before ^yhis army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
^zhe who executes his word is powerful.
^aaFor the day of the Lord is ^abgreat and very awesome;
^acwho can endure it?

Return to the Lord

12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
^ad“return to me with all your heart,
^aewith fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and ^afrend your hearts and not ^agyour garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
^ahfor he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
^aiand he relents over disaster.
14 ^ajWho knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and ^akleave a blessing behind him,
^ala grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God?
15 ^amBlow the trumpet in Zion;
^anconsecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16 gather the people.
^aoConsecrate the congregation;
assemble the elders;
^apgather the children,
even nursing infants.
^aqLet the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
17 ^arBetween the ^asvestibule and the ^ataltar
^aulet 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}
^awWhy should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”

The Lord Had Pity

18 ^axThen the Lord became jealous for his land
^ayand had pity on his people.
19 The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, ^azI am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
^baand 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 ^bcthe eastern sea,
and his rear guard ^{▼▼Hebrew his end} into ^bethe western sea;
^bfthe stench and foul smell of him will rise,
for he has done great things.
21 “Fear not, O land;
be glad and rejoice,
for ^bgthe Lord has done great things!
22 Fear not, ^bhyou beasts of the field,
for ^bithe pastures of the wilderness are green;
^bjthe tree bears its fruit;
the fig tree and ^bkvine give their full yield.
23 ^bl“Be glad, O children of Zion,
and ^bmrejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given ^bnthe early rain for your vindication;
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
^bothe early and ^bpthe 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 ^brthe swarming locust has eaten,
^bsthe hopper, ^btthe destroyer, and ^buthe cutter,
^bvmy great army, which I sent among you.
26 ^bw“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 ^bxshall never again be put to shame.
27 ^byYou shall know that I am ^bzin the midst of Israel,
and that ^caI am the Lord your God ^cband there is none else.
And my people ^ccshall never again be put to shame.

The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit

28 ^{▼▼Ch 3:1 in Hebrew} ^ce“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that ^cfI will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
^cgyour sons and ^chyour daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
29 ^ciEven on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30 “And I will show ^cjwonders in the heavens and ^ckon the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 ^clThe sun shall be turned to darkness, ^cmand the moon to blood, ^cnbefore the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that ^coeveryone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. ^cpFor in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among ^cqthe survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Joel 3

The Lord Judges the Nations

1 ^{▼▼Ch 4:1 in Hebrew} “For behold, ^csin those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 ^ctI will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And ^cuI will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, 3 and ^cvhave cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.

4 “What are you to me, ^cwO Tyre and Sidon, and all ^cxthe regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, ^cyI will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. 5 For ^czyou have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. ^{▼▼Or palaces} 6 You have sold ^dbthe people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. 7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and ^dcI will return your payment on your own head. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the ^ddSabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”

9 Proclaim this among the nations:
^deConsecrate for war; ^{▼▼Or Consecrate a war}
stir up the mighty men.
Let all the men of war draw near;
let them come up.
10 ^dgBeat your plowshares into swords,
and ^dhyour pruning hooks into spears;
let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
11 ^diHasten and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves there.
^djBring down your warriors, O Lord.
12 Let the nations stir themselves up
and come up to ^dkthe Valley of Jehoshaphat;
^dlfor there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
13 ^dmPut in the sickle,
^dnfor the harvest is ripe.
^doGo in, tread,
^dpfor the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
for their evil is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For ^dqthe day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
15 ^drThe sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
16 ^dsThe Lord roars from Zion,
and ^dtutters his voice from Jerusalem,
^duand the heavens and the earth quake.
But the Lord is ^dva refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.

The Glorious Future of Judah

17 ^dw“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
^dxwho dwells in Zion, ^dymy holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and ^dzstrangers shall never again pass through it.
18 “And in that day
^eathe mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and ^eball the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
^ecand a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
and water the Valley of ^edShittim.
19 ^ee“Egypt shall become a desolation
and ^efEdom a desolate wilderness,
^egfor the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 ^ehBut Judah shall be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
21 ^eiI will avenge their blood,
blood I have not avenged, ^{▼▼Or I will acquit their bloodguilt that I have not acquitted}
^ekfor the Lord dwells in Zion.”