| 1:2 |
Hear this, Oyou elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days, Or in your fathers’ days? |
| 1:3 |
Tell your sons about it, And lethave your sons tell their sons, And their sons the next generation. |
| 1:5 |
Awake, drunkardsyou heavy drinkers, and weep; And wail, all you wine drinkers, OnBecause account of the sweet wine, ThatFor isit cuthas offbeen eliminated from your mouth. |
| 1:6 |
For a nation has invaded my land, Mighty and without number; Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, And it has the fangsjaws of a lioness. |
| 1:7 |
It has made my vine a waste And my fig tree splintersa stump. It has stripped them bare and casthurled them away; Their branches have become white. |
| 1:8 |
Wail like a virgin girdedclothed with sackcloth For the bridegroomgroom of her youth. |
| 1:9 |
The grain offering and the drink offering arehave been cut off From the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, The ministers of the Lord. |
| 1:10 |
The field is ruined, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine drieshas dried up, Fresh oil failshas failed. |
| 1:11 |
Be ashamed, Oyou farmersfarm workers, Wail, Oyou vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field is destroyed. |
| 1:12 |
The vine drieshas dried up And the fig tree failshas withered; The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree, All the trees of the field dryhave dried up. Indeed, rejoicingjoy drieshas dried up From the sons of menmankind. |
| 1:13 |
GirdPut yourselveson with sackcloth And lamentmourn, Oyou priests; Wail, Oyou ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, OYou ministers of my God, For the grain offering and the drink offering AreHave been withheld from the house of your God. |
| 1:15 |
AlasWoe for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty. |
| 1:16 |
Has food not food been cut off before our eyes, Gladnessand Joy and joyrejoicing from the house of our God? |
| 1:17 |
The seeds shrivelhave dried up under their clodsshovels; The storehouses arehave become desolate, The barnsgrain silos are torn downruined, ForBecause the grain ishas dried up. |
| 1:18 |
How the beastsanimals groanhave groaned! The herds of cattle wanderhave wandered aimlessly Because there is no pasture for them; Even the flocks of sheep sufferhave suffered. |
| 1:19 |
To You, O Lord, I cry out; For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field. |
| 1:20 |
Even the beastsanimals of the field pant for You; For the stream beds of water brooks are dried up, And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness. |
| 2:1 |
Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the Lord is coming; SurelyIndeed, it is near, |
| 2:2 |
A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations. |
| 2:3 |
A fire consumes before them, And behind them a flame burnsdevours. The land is like the gardenGarden of Eden before them, But a desolate wilderness behind them, And nothing at all escapes them. |
| 2:5 |
With a noise as of chariots They leap about on the tops of the mountains, Like the crackling of a flame of fire consuming the stubble, Like a mighty people arrangeddrawn up for battle. |
| 2:7 |
They run like mighty menwarriors, They climb the wall like soldiers; And they each marchof them marches in line, Nor do they deviatelose from their pathsway. |
| 2:8 |
They do not crowd each other, TheyEvery marchwarrior everyoneof them marches in his path; When they burst through the defenses, They do not break ranks. |
| 2:9 |
They rushstorm on the city, They run on the wall; They climb into the houses, They enter through the windows like a thief. |
| 2:10 |
Before them the earth quakes, The heavens tremble, The sun and the moon growbecome dark, And the stars lose their brightness. |
| 2:11 |
The Lord utters His voice before His army; Surely His camp is indeed very great, For strongmighty is heone who carries out His word. The day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome, And who can endure it? |
| 2:12 |
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping, and mourning; |
| 2:13 |
And rendtear your heart and not merely your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindnessmercy And relenting of evilcatastrophe. |
| 2:14 |
Who knows, whether He willmight not turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him, EvenResulting in a grain offering and a drink offering For the Lord your God?. |
| 2:16 |
Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and the nursing infants. LetHave the bridegroomgroom come out of his room And the bride out of her bridal chamber. |
| 2:17 |
Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, And do not make Your inheritance a reproachdisgrace, AWith bywordthe amongnations thejeering nationsat them. Why should theythose among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’ ” |
| 2:18 |
Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, And will have pitycompassion onfor His people. |
| 2:19 |
The Lord will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine, and oil, And you will be satisfied in full with them; And I will never again make you a reproachdisgrace among the nations. |
| 2:20 |
But I will remove the northern army far from you, And I will drive it into a parcheddry and desolate land, AndIts itsadvance vanguardguard into the eastern sea, And its rear guard into the western sea. And its stench will ariseascend and its foulodor smellof decay will come up, ForBecause it has done great things.” |
| 2:21 |
Do not fear, O land,; rejoiceshout for joy and be gladrejoice, For the Lord has done great things. |
| 2:22 |
Do not fear, beastsanimals of the field, For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green, For the tree has borneproduced its fruit, The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full. |
| 2:23 |
So rejoiceshout for joy, Oyou sons of Zion, And berejoice glad in the Lord your God; For He has given you the early rain for your vindication. And He has pouredbrought down for you the rain, The early and latter rain as before. |
| 2:25 |
“Then I will makecompensate up to you for the years That the swarming locust has eaten, The creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust,— My great army which I sent among you. |
| 2:26 |
You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied, And you will praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; Then My people will never be put to shame. |
| 2:27 |
ThusSo you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, And that I am the Lord your God, And there is no other; And My people will never be put to shame. |
| 2:28 |
“It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dreamhave dreams, Your young men will see visions. |
| 2:29 |
EvenAnd even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. |
| 2:30 |
I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire, and columns of smoke. |
| 2:31 |
The sun will be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. |
| 2:32 |
And it will come about that whoevereveryone who calls on the name of the Lord Will be deliveredsaved; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, AsJust as the Lord has said, Even among the survivors whom the Lord calls. |
| 3:2 |
I will gather all the nations And bring them down to the valleyValley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land. |
| 3:3 |
They have also cast lots for My people, Traded a boy for a harlotprostitute, And sold a girl for wine so that they may drink. |
| 3:4 |
Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you renderingrepaying Me awith recompenseretribution? But if you doare recompenseshowing Me retribution, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompenseretribution on your head.! |
| 3:7 |
behold, I am going to arousestir them up from the place where you have sold them, and return your recompenseretribution on your head. |
| 3:8 |
Also I will also sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation,” for the Lord has spoken. |
| 3:9 |
Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare afor holy war; rousestir up the mighty menwarriors! LetHave all the soldiers drawcome nearforward, lethave them come up! |
| 3:10 |
Beat your plowshares into swords, And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak man say, “I am a mighty manwarrior.” |
| 3:11 |
Hasten Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O Lord, Your mighty oneswarriors. |
| 3:12 |
Let the nations be arousedawakened And come up to the valleyValley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations. |
| 3:13 |
Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread the grapes, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. |
| 3:15 |
The sun and moon growhave become dark, And the stars losehave lost their brightness. |
| 3:16 |
The Lord roars from Zion And utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth tremblequake. But the Lord is a refuge for His people, And a stronghold tofor the sons of Israel. |
| 3:17 |
Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, Dwelling inon Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, And strangers will no longer pass through it no more. |
| 3:18 |
And inon that day The mountains will drip with sweet wine, And the hills will flow with milk, And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water; And a spring will go out from the house of the Lord ToAnd water the valleyValley of Shittim. |
| 3:19 |
Egypt will become a wastewasteland, And Edom will become a desolate wilderness, Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, In whose land they have shed innocent blood. |
| 3:20 |
But Judah will be inhabited forever, And Jerusalem for all generations. |