HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1168
J O EL 1
page 798
ponder your own actions (or lack of them) in your relationship with the Lord God and
the consequences that may come from them.
“Give me your hearts,” the Lord urges (2:12). The plea is the same today as in the days
of Joel. The consequence also is still the same. “Everyone who calls on the name of the
Lord will be saved” (2:32). Those who don’t, or who do and then choose to ignore him,
will have to face him on that coming day of the Lord.
Key verses in Joel
1:19 Lord, help us!
2:12-14 That is why the Lord
says, “Turn to me now, while
there is time. Give me your hearts.
Come with fasting, weeping,
and mourning. Don’t tear your
clothing in your grief, but tear
your hearts instead.” Return to the
Lord your God, for he is merciful
1
and compassionate, slow to get
angry and filled with unfailing
love. He is eager to relent and not
punish. Who knows? Perhaps he
will give you a reprieve, sending
you a blessing instead of this
curse.
2:20-21 Surely the Lord has
done great things! Don’t be afraid,
The Lord gave this message to Joel son of
Pethuel.
Mourning over the Locust Plague
2 Hear this, you leaders of the people.
Listen, all who live in the land.
In all your history,
has anything like this happened before?
3 Tell your children about it in the years
to come,
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• Family
JO E L 1 :3
In Joel’s time, the most common way to
pass history from one generation to the
next was to memorize and recite it and
teach it to children and grandchildren.
Today, computer systems store more
information in a few minutes than Joel’s
generation encountered in its entire
lifetime. But even advanced technology
fails to process and store some of our
most important data. What do your
children know about your family’s spiritual
history? Do they know the prayers you
have prayed for them? The spiritual
failures that have cost the family or the
nation? The ways in which God has
provided and healed? The promises that
gave great-grandparents the strength to
carry on the family line and faith? Devise
ways to preserve your spiritual history,
and make sure your children and their
children will have access to it.
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O land. Be glad now and rejoice,
for the Lord has done great things.
2:28 “Then, after doing all those
things, I will pour out my Spirit
upon all people. Your sons and
daughters will prophesy. Your
old men will dream dreams,
and your young men will see
visions.”
and let your children tell their children.
Pass the story down from generation to
generation.
After the cutting locusts finished eating
the crops,
the swarming locusts took what
was left!
After them came the hopping locusts,
and then the stripping locusts,* too!
Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
Wail, all you wine-drinkers!
All the grapes are ruined,
and all your sweet wine is gone.
A vast army of locusts* has invaded
my land,
a terrible army too numerous to count.
Its teeth are like lions’ teeth,
its fangs like those of a lioness.
It has destroyed my grapevines
and ruined my fig trees,
stripping their bark and destroying it,
leaving the branches white and bare.
Weep like a bride dressed in black,
mourning the death of her husband.
For there is no grain or wine
to offer at the Temple of the Lord.
So the priests are in mourning.
The ministers of the Lord are
weeping.
The fields are ruined,
the land is stripped bare.
The grain is destroyed,
the grapes have shriveled,
and the olive oil is gone.
1:4 The precise identification of the four kinds of locusts
mentioned here is uncertain. 1:6 Hebrew A nation.