Breaking Covenant Through Divorce

10 Do we not all have one Father[a]?(A) Did not one God create us?(B) Why do we profane the covenant(C) of our ancestors by being unfaithful(D) to one another?

11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable(E) thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves(F) by marrying(G) women who worship a foreign god.(H) 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove(I) him from the tents of Jacob[b](J)—even though he brings an offering(K) to the Lord Almighty.

13 Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears.(L) You weep and wail(M) because he no longer looks with favor(N) on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.(O) 14 You ask,(P) “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness(Q) between you and the wife of your youth.(R) You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.(S)

15 Has not the one God made you?(T) You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.[c](U) So be on your guard,(V) and do not be unfaithful(W) to the wife of your youth.

16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,(X)” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”[d](Y) says the Lord Almighty.

So be on your guard,(Z) and do not be unfaithful.

Breaking Covenant Through Injustice

17 You have wearied(AA) the Lord with your words.

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.(AB)

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased(AC) with them” or “Where is the God of justice?(AD)

“I will send my messenger,(AE) who will prepare the way before me.(AF) Then suddenly the Lord(AG) you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant,(AH) whom you desire,(AI) will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

But who can endure(AJ) the day of his coming?(AK) Who can stand(AL) when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire(AM) or a launderer’s soap.(AN) He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;(AO) he will purify(AP) the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.(AQ) Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,(AR) and the offerings(AS) of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.(AT)

“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,(AU) adulterers(AV) and perjurers,(AW) against those who defraud laborers of their wages,(AX) who oppress the widows(AY) and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners(AZ) among you of justice, but do not fear(BA) me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

“I the Lord do not change.(BB) So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.(BC) Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away(BD) from my decrees and have not kept them. Return(BE) to me, and I will return to you,”(BF) says the Lord Almighty.

“But you ask,(BG) ‘How are we to return?’

“Will a mere mortal rob(BH) God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes(BI) and offerings. You are under a curse(BJ)—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe(BK) into the storehouse,(BL) that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates(BM) of heaven and pour out(BN) so much blessing(BO) that there will not be room enough to store it.(BP) 11 I will prevent pests from devouring(BQ) your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,(BR)” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed,(BS) for yours will be a delightful land,”(BT) says the Lord Almighty.(BU)

Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God

13 “You have spoken arrogantly(BV) against me,” says the Lord.

“Yet you ask,(BW) ‘What have we said against you?’

14 “You have said, ‘It is futile(BX) to serve(BY) God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements(BZ) and going about like mourners(CA) before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant(CB) blessed. Certainly evildoers(CC) prosper,(CD) and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”

The Faithful Remnant

16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard.(CE) A scroll(CF) of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared(CG) the Lord and honored his name.

17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my(CH) treasured possession.(CI) I will spare(CJ) them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son(CK) who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous(CL) and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.(CM)

Judgment and Covenant Renewal

[e]“Surely the day is coming;(CN) it will burn like a furnace.(CO) All the arrogant(CP) and every evildoer will be stubble,(CQ) and the day that is coming will set them on fire,(CR)” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch(CS) will be left to them. But for you who revere my name,(CT) the sun of righteousness(CU) will rise with healing(CV) in its rays. And you will go out and frolic(CW) like well-fed calves. Then you will trample(CX) on the wicked; they will be ashes(CY) under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.

“Remember the law(CZ) of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb(DA) for all Israel.(DB)

“See, I will send the prophet Elijah(DC) to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.(DD) He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children,(DE) and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike(DF) the land with total destruction.”(DG)

Footnotes

  1. Malachi 2:10 Or father
  2. Malachi 2:12 Or 12 May the Lord remove from the tents of Jacob anyone who gives testimony in behalf of the man who does this
  3. Malachi 2:15 The meaning of the Hebrew for the first part of this verse is uncertain.
  4. Malachi 2:16 Or “I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “because the man who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,”
  5. Malachi 4:1 In Hebrew texts 4:1-6 is numbered 3:19-24.

10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.

12 The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts.

13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.

14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.

15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

16 For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.

17 Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.

But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:

And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.

For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.

13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?

14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?

15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.

17 And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

The word of the Lord that came(A) to Joel(B) son of Pethuel.

An Invasion of Locusts

Hear this,(C) you elders;(D)
    listen, all who live in the land.(E)
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
    or in the days of your ancestors?(F)
Tell it to your children,(G)
    and let your children tell it to their children,
    and their children to the next generation.(H)
What the locust(I) swarm has left
    the great locusts have eaten;
what the great locusts have left
    the young locusts have eaten;
what the young locusts have left(J)
    other locusts[a] have eaten.(K)

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
    Wail, all you drinkers of wine;(L)
wail because of the new wine,
    for it has been snatched(M) from your lips.
A nation has invaded my land,
    a mighty army without number;(N)
it has the teeth(O) of a lion,
    the fangs of a lioness.
It has laid waste(P) my vines
    and ruined my fig trees.(Q)
It has stripped off their bark
    and thrown it away,
    leaving their branches white.

Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth(R)
    grieving for the betrothed of her youth.
Grain offerings and drink offerings(S)
    are cut off from the house of the Lord.
The priests are in mourning,(T)
    those who minister before the Lord.
10 The fields are ruined,
    the ground is dried up;(U)
the grain is destroyed,
    the new wine(V) is dried up,
    the olive oil fails.(W)

11 Despair, you farmers,(X)
    wail, you vine growers;
grieve for the wheat and the barley,(Y)
    because the harvest of the field is destroyed.(Z)
12 The vine is dried up
    and the fig tree is withered;(AA)
the pomegranate,(AB) the palm and the apple[b] tree—
    all the trees of the field—are dried up.(AC)
Surely the people’s joy
    is withered away.

A Call to Lamentation

13 Put on sackcloth,(AD) you priests, and mourn;
    wail, you who minister(AE) before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
    you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offerings(AF)
    are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Declare a holy fast;(AG)
    call a sacred assembly.
Summon the elders
    and all who live in the land(AH)
to the house of the Lord your God,
    and cry out(AI) to the Lord.(AJ)

15 Alas for that(AK) day!
    For the day of the Lord(AL) is near;
    it will come like destruction from the Almighty.[c](AM)

16 Has not the food been cut off(AN)
    before our very eyes—
joy and gladness(AO)
    from the house of our God?(AP)
17 The seeds are shriveled
    beneath the clods.[d](AQ)
The storehouses are in ruins,
    the granaries have been broken down,
    for the grain has dried up.
18 How the cattle moan!
    The herds mill about
because they have no pasture;(AR)
    even the flocks of sheep are suffering.(AS)

19 To you, Lord, I call,(AT)
    for fire(AU) has devoured the pastures(AV) in the wilderness
    and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.
20 Even the wild animals pant for you;(AW)
    the streams of water have dried up(AX)
    and fire has devoured the pastures(AY) in the wilderness.

An Army of Locusts

Blow the trumpet(AZ) in Zion;(BA)
    sound the alarm on my holy hill.(BB)

Let all who live in the land tremble,
    for the day of the Lord(BC) is coming.
It is close at hand(BD)
    a day of darkness(BE) and gloom,(BF)
    a day of clouds(BG) and blackness.(BH)
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
    a large and mighty army(BI) comes,
such as never was in ancient times(BJ)
    nor ever will be in ages to come.

Before them fire(BK) devours,
    behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,(BL)
    behind them, a desert waste(BM)
    nothing escapes them.
They have the appearance of horses;(BN)
    they gallop along like cavalry.
With a noise like that of chariots(BO)
    they leap over the mountaintops,
like a crackling fire(BP) consuming stubble,
    like a mighty army drawn up for battle.

At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;(BQ)
    every face turns pale.(BR)
They charge like warriors;(BS)
    they scale walls like soldiers.
They all march in line,(BT)
    not swerving(BU) from their course.
They do not jostle each other;
    each marches straight ahead.
They plunge through defenses
    without breaking ranks.
They rush upon the city;
    they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses;(BV)
    like thieves they enter through the windows.(BW)

10 Before them the earth shakes,(BX)
    the heavens tremble,(BY)
the sun and moon are darkened,(BZ)
    and the stars no longer shine.(CA)
11 The Lord(CB) thunders(CC)
    at the head of his army;(CD)
his forces are beyond number,
    and mighty is the army that obeys his command.
The day of the Lord is great;(CE)
    it is dreadful.
    Who can endure it?(CF)

Rend Your Heart

12 “Even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return(CG) to me with all your heart,(CH)
    with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

13 Rend your heart(CI)
    and not your garments.(CJ)
Return(CK) to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and compassionate,(CL)
slow to anger and abounding in love,(CM)
    and he relents from sending calamity.(CN)
14 Who knows? He may turn(CO) and relent(CP)
    and leave behind a blessing(CQ)
grain offerings and drink offerings(CR)
    for the Lord your God.

15 Blow the trumpet(CS) in Zion,(CT)
    declare a holy fast,(CU)
    call a sacred assembly.(CV)
16 Gather the people,
    consecrate(CW) the assembly;
bring together the elders,(CX)
    gather the children,
    those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom(CY) leave his room
    and the bride her chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister(CZ) before the Lord,
    weep(DA) between the portico and the altar.(DB)
Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord.
    Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,(DC)
    a byword(DD) among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
    ‘Where is their God?(DE)’”

The Lord’s Answer

18 Then the Lord was jealous(DF) for his land
    and took pity(DG) on his people.

19 The Lord replied[e] to them:

“I am sending you grain, new wine(DH) and olive oil,(DI)
    enough to satisfy you fully;(DJ)
never again will I make you
    an object of scorn(DK) to the nations.

20 “I will drive the northern horde(DL) far from you,
    pushing it into a parched and barren land;
its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea
    and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea.
And its stench(DM) will go up;
    its smell will rise.”

Surely he has done great things!
21     Do not be afraid,(DN) land of Judah;
    be glad and rejoice.(DO)
Surely the Lord has done great things!(DP)
22     Do not be afraid, you wild animals,
    for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green.(DQ)
The trees are bearing their fruit;
    the fig tree(DR) and the vine(DS) yield their riches.(DT)
23 Be glad, people of Zion,
    rejoice(DU) in the Lord your God,
for he has given you the autumn rains
    because he is faithful.(DV)
He sends you abundant showers,(DW)
    both autumn(DX) and spring rains,(DY) as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
    the vats will overflow(DZ) with new wine(EA) and oil.

25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts(EB) have eaten(EC)
    the great locust and the young locust,
    the other locusts and the locust swarm[f]
my great army(ED) that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,(EE)
    and you will praise(EF) the name of the Lord your God,
    who has worked wonders(EG) for you;
never again will my people be shamed.(EH)
27 Then you will know(EI) that I am in Israel,
    that I am the Lord(EJ) your God,
    and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.(EK)

The Day of the Lord

28 “And afterward,
    I will pour out my Spirit(EL) on all people.(EM)
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,(EN)
    your old men will dream dreams,(EO)
    your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants,(EP) both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days.(EQ)
30 I will show wonders in the heavens(ER)
    and on the earth,(ES)
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness(ET)
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.(EU)
32 And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord(EV) will be saved;(EW)
for on Mount Zion(EX) and in Jerusalem
    there will be deliverance,(EY)
    as the Lord has said,
even among the survivors(EZ)
    whom the Lord calls.[g](FA)

The Nations Judged

[h]“In those days and at that time,
    when I restore the fortunes(FB) of Judah(FC) and Jerusalem,
I will gather(FD) all nations
    and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.[i](FE)
There I will put them on trial(FF)
    for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel,
because they scattered(FG) my people among the nations
    and divided up my land.
They cast lots(FH) for my people
    and traded boys for prostitutes;
    they sold girls for wine(FI) to drink.

“Now what have you against me, Tyre and Sidon(FJ) and all you regions of Philistia?(FK) Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done.(FL) For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples.[j](FM) You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks,(FN) that you might send them far from their homeland.

“See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them,(FO) and I will return(FP) on your own heads what you have done. I will sell your sons(FQ) and daughters to the people of Judah,(FR) and they will sell them to the Sabeans,(FS) a nation far away.” The Lord has spoken.(FT)

Proclaim this among the nations:
    Prepare for war!(FU)
Rouse the warriors!(FV)
    Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords
    and your pruning hooks(FW) into spears.(FX)
Let the weakling(FY) say,
    “I am strong!”(FZ)
11 Come quickly, all you nations from every side,
    and assemble(GA) there.

Bring down your warriors,(GB) Lord!

12 “Let the nations be roused;
    let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,(GC)
for there I will sit
    to judge(GD) all the nations on every side.
13 Swing the sickle,(GE)
    for the harvest(GF) is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes,(GG)
    for the winepress(GH) is full
    and the vats overflow—
so great is their wickedness!”

14 Multitudes,(GI) multitudes
    in the valley(GJ) of decision!
For the day of the Lord(GK) is near
    in the valley of decision.(GL)
15 The sun and moon will be darkened,
    and the stars no longer shine.(GM)
16 The Lord will roar(GN) from Zion
    and thunder from Jerusalem;(GO)
    the earth and the heavens will tremble.(GP)
But the Lord will be a refuge(GQ) for his people,
    a stronghold(GR) for the people of Israel.

Blessings for God’s People

17 “Then you will know(GS) that I, the Lord your God,(GT)
    dwell in Zion,(GU) my holy hill.(GV)
Jerusalem will be holy;(GW)
    never again will foreigners invade her.(GX)

18 “In that day the mountains will drip new wine,(GY)
    and the hills will flow with milk;(GZ)
    all the ravines of Judah will run with water.(HA)
A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house(HB)
    and will water the valley of acacias.[k](HC)
19 But Egypt(HD) will be desolate,
    Edom(HE) a desert waste,
because of violence(HF) done to the people of Judah,
    in whose land they shed innocent blood.
20 Judah will be inhabited forever(HG)
    and Jerusalem through all generations.
21 Shall I leave their innocent blood unavenged?(HH)
    No, I will not.(HI)

The Lord dwells in Zion!(HJ)

Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:4 The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.
  2. Joel 1:12 Or possibly apricot
  3. Joel 1:15 Hebrew Shaddai
  4. Joel 1:17 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  5. Joel 2:19 Or Lord will be jealous … / and take pity … / 19 The Lord will reply
  6. Joel 2:25 The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.
  7. Joel 2:32 In Hebrew texts 2:28-32 is numbered 3:1-5.
  8. Joel 3:1 In Hebrew texts 3:1-21 is numbered 4:1-21.
  9. Joel 3:2 Jehoshaphat means the Lord judges; also in verse 12.
  10. Joel 3:5 Or palaces
  11. Joel 3:18 Or Valley of Shittim

The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?

Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.

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.

For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.

He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

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

10 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

11 Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.

12 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.

13 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.

14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord,

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

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

17 The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.

18 How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

19 O Lord, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.

20 The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.

Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.

They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:

Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.

They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

10 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

11 And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

12 Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

14 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:

16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.

17 Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?

18 Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people.

19 Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:

20 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.

21 Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things.

22 Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.

23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.

32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;

Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant 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.

Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:

And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the Lord hath spoken it.

Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:

10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.

12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.

13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

16 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.

17 So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

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

21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.