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J O EL 2
14
page 800
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.
Perhaps you will be able to offer grain
and wine
to the Lord your God as before.
22
23
— promises —
from God
“But everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord
will be saved.”
JO E L 2:32
15
16
17
Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem!
Announce a time of fasting;
call the people together
for a solemn meeting.
Gather all the people—
the elders, the children, and even
the babies.
Call the bridegroom from his quarters
and the bride from her private room.
Let the priests, who minister in the Lord’s
presence,
stand and weep between the entry room
to the Temple and the altar.
Let them pray, “Spare your people, Lord!
Don’t let your special possession become
an object of mockery.
Don’t let them become a joke for
unbelieving foreigners who say,
‘Has the God of Israel left them?’”
The LORD’s Promise of Restoration
18 Then the Lord will pity his people
and jealously guard the honor of his land.
19 The Lord will reply,
“Look! I am sending you grain and new wine
and olive oil,
enough to satisfy your needs.
You will no longer be an object of mockery
among the surrounding nations.
20 I will drive away these armies from the north.
I will send them into the parched
wastelands.
Those in the front will be driven into the
Dead Sea,
and those at the rear into the
Mediterranean.*
The stench of their rotting bodies will rise
over the land.”
21
Surely the Lord has done great things!
Don’t be afraid, O land.
Be glad now and rejoice,
24
25
26
27
for the Lord has done great things.
Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field,
for the wilderness pastures will soon
be green.
The trees will again be filled with fruit;
fig trees and grapevines will be loaded
down once more.
Rejoice, you people of Jerusalem!
Rejoice in the Lord your God!
For the rain he sends demonstrates his
faithfulness.
Once more the autumn rains will come,
as well as the rains of spring.
The threshing floors will again be piled high
with grain,
and the presses will overflow with new
wine and olive oil.
The Lord says, “I will give you back what
you lost
to the swarming locusts, the hopping
locusts,
the stripping locusts, and the cutting
locusts.*
It was I who sent this great destroying
army against you.
Once again you will have all the food you
want,
and you will praise the Lord your God,
who does these miracles for you.
Never again will my people be disgraced.
Then you will know that I am among my
people Israel,
that I am the Lord your God, and there is
no other.
Never again will my people be disgraced.
The LORD’s Promise of His Spirit
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.
29 In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on servants—men and women alike.
30 And I will cause wonders in the heavens
and on the earth—
blood and fire and columns of smoke.
31 The sun will become dark,
and the moon will turn blood red
before that great and terrible* day of
the Lord arrives.
32 But everyone who calls on the name of
the Lord
will be saved,
for some on Mount Zion in Jerusalem
will escape,
just as the Lord has said.
2:20 Hebrew into the eastern sea, . . . into the western sea.
2:25 The precise identification of the four kinds of locusts
mentioned here is uncertain. 2:28 Verses 2:28-32 are
numbered 3:1-5 in Hebrew text. 2:31 Greek version reads
glorious.