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Chapter 1
This is the word
of the Lord, that came to Joel the son of Phatuel: Hear O ye elders:
ponder this well, all ye that dwell in the land: if ever there
happened such a thing in your days, or in the days of your fathers.
Tell your childern of it , and let them show it to their children,
and so they to certify their posterity thereof. Look what the
caterpillar hath left, that hath the grasshopper eaten up: what the
grasshopper left, that hath the locust eaten up: and what the locust
hath left, that hath the blasting consumed. Wake up ye drunkards,
and weep: mourn all ye wine sippers because of your sweet wine, for
it shall be taken away from your mouth. Yee a mighty and an
innumerable people shall come up into my land: these have teeth like
the teeth of Lyons, and chaftbones like the lioness. They shall make
my vineyard waste, they shall pull off the bark of my fig trees,
strip them bare, cast them away, and make the branches white.
Make thy moan as a virgin doth that gird herself with sack,
because of her bride groom. For the meat and drink offering shall be
taken away from the house of the Lord: and the priests the Lords
ministers shall mourn. The field shall be waste, the land shall be
in a miserable cause: for the corn shall be destroyed, the sweet
wine shall come to confusion, and the oil utterly desolate. The
husband men and the wine gardeners shall look pitifully and make
lamentation, for the wheat, wine and barley, and because the harvest
upon the field is so clean destroyed. The grape gathers shall make
great moan, when the vineyard and the fig trees be so utterly
wasted. Yee all the pomegranates, palm trees, apple trees, and the
other trees of the field shall waste away. Thus the merry cheer of
the childern of men shall come to confusion.
Gird you , and make your moan, O ye priests: mourn ye
ministers of the alter: go your way in, and sleep in sack cloth, O
ye officers of my God: for the meat and drink offering shall be
taken away from the house of your God. Proclaim a fasting, call the
congregation, gather the elders and all the inhabitors of the land
together in to the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the
Lord: alas, alas for this day. And why? the day of the Lord is at
hand, and cometh as a destroyer from the Almighty. Shall not the
meats be taken away before our eyes, the mirth also and joy from the
house of our God? The seed shall perish in the ground, the gardens
shall be laid waste, the floors shall be broken down, for the corn
shall be destroyed. O what a fighting make the cattle? the bullocks
are very evil liking, because they have no pasture: and the sheep
are famished away.
O' Lord, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath consumed the
goodly pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burnt up all
the trees of the field. Yee the wild beasts cry also unto thee, for
the water rivers are dried up, and the fire hath consumed the
pastures of the wilderness.
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Chapter 2
Blow out the trumpet in Sion,
and cry upon my holy hill, that all such as dwell in the land, may
tremble at it: for the day of the Lord cometh, and is hard at hand:
a dark day, a cloudy day, yee and a stormy day, like as the morning
spreadeth out upon the hills: Namely, a great and mighty people:
such as have not been since the beginning, neither shall be after
them for evermore. Before him shall be a consuming fire, and behind
him a burning flame. The land shall be as a garden of pleasure
before him, but behind him shall be a very waste wilderness, and
there is no man, that shall escape him. They are to look upon like
*barded horses, and run like horse men. They skipped up upon the
hills, as it were the sound of chariots: as the flame of fire that
consumeth the straw, and as a mighty people ready to the battle.
The folk shall be afraid of him, all faces shall be as black
as the pot. These shall run like giants, and leap over the walls
like men of war. Every man in his going will keep his array, and not
go out of his Path. There shall not one drive another, but each
shall keep his own way. They shall break in at the windows, and not
be hurt: They shall come in to the city, and run upon the walls:
They shall climb up upon the houses, and slip in at the windows like
a thief. The earth shall quake before him, yee the heavens shall be
moved: The Sun and Moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall
withdraw their shine. The Lord shall show his voice before his host,
for his host is great, strong and mighty to fulfill his commandment.
This is that great and marvelous fearful day of the Lord: And who is
able to abide it.
Now therefore sayeth the Lord: Turn you unto me with all your
hearts, with fasting, weeping and mourning, rent your hearts, and
not your clothes. Turn you unto the Lord your God, for he is
gracious and merciful, long suffering and of great compassion: and
ready to pardon wickedness. Then ( no doubt ) he also shall turn,
and forgive: and after his chastening, he shall let your increase
remain, for meat and drink offerings unto the Lord your God: Blow
out with the trumpet in Sion, proclaim a fasting, call the
congregation, and gather the people together: warn the congregation,
gather the elders, bring the children and sucklings together. Let
the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her
closet. Let the priests serve the Lord between the porch and the
alter, weeping and saying: be favorable O' Lord, be favorable unto
thy people: let not thy heritage be brought to such confusion, lest
the Heathen be Lords thereof. Wherefore should they say among the
Heathen: where is now their God?
Then shall the Lord be jealous over his land, and spare his
people: yee the Lord shall answer, and say unto his people: Behold,
I will send you corn, wine, and oil, so that ye shall have plenty of
them: And I will no more give you over to be a reproof among the
Heathen. Again as for him of the North, I shall drive him far from
you: and shoot him out in to a dry and waste land, his face toward
the east sea, and his hinder parts toward the upmost sea. The stink
of him shall go up, and his filthy corruption shall fall upon
himself, because he hath dealt so proudly. Fear not ( O land ) but
be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things. Be not ye
afraid neither ( O ye beasts of the field ) for the pastures shall
be green and the trees shall bear their fruit: the fig trees and
vineyards shall give their increase.
Be glad then ( O ye children of Sion ) and rejoice in the Lord
your God, for he hath given you a teacher of righteousness: and he
it is that shall send you down showers of rain, early and late in
the first month: so that the gardeners shall be full of corn, and
the priests plenteous in wine and oil. And as for the years that the
grasshopper, locust, blasting, and caterpillar ( my great host,
which I sent among you) have eaten up, I shall restore them to you
again: so that ye shall have enough to eat, and be satisfied: and
praise the name of the Lord your God, that so marvelously hath dealt
with you.
And my people shall never be confounded anymore. Ye shall well
know, that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am your God: yee
and that there is none other, and my people shall no more be brought
to confusion.
After this, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: and your
sons and daughters shall prophesy: your old men shall dream dreams ,
and your young men shall see visions in those days I will pour out
my spirit upon servants and maidens. I will show wonders in the
heavens above, and tokens in the earth beneath: blood and fire, and
the vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the
moon into blood: before the great and notable day of the Lord come.
And the time shall come: that whosoever calleth upon the name of the
Lord, shall be saved. For upon the mount Sion and at Jerusalem,
there shall be a salvation, like as the Lord hath promised: yee and
among the other remnant, whom the Lord shall call.
*barded =armored and
ornamented.
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Chapter 3
For take heed:
in those days and at the same time, when I turn again the captivity
of Juda and Jerusalem: I shall gather all people together, and bring
them in the valley of Josaphat: and there will I reason with them:
because of my people and heritage of Israel: whom they have
scattered about in the nations, and parted my land: yee they have
cast lots for my people, the young men have they set in the bordel
house, and sold the damsels for wine, that they might have to drink.
Thou Tirus and Sidon and all the borders of the Philistines: what
have yee to do with me? Will ye defy me? well, if ye will needs defy
me, I shall recompense you, even upon your head, and that right
shortly: for ye have taken away my silver and gold, my fair and
goodly jewels, and brought them on to your gods houses. The children
also of Juda and Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Greeks, that ye
might bring them far from the borders of their own countries.
Behold therefore, I will raise them out of the place, where ye
have sold them, and will reward you even upon your head. Your sons
and your daughters will I sell through the hands of the children of
Juda, and so they shall give them forth to sell, unto them of Saba,
a people of a far country: for the Lord himself has said it. Cry out
these things among the Gentiles, proclaim war, wake up the giants,
let them draw nye, let them come up all the lusty warriors of them.
Make you swords of your plowshares, and spears of your sickles and
scythes. Let the meek man say: I am strong. Muster you, and come,
all ye Heathen round about: gather you together, there shall the
Lord lay all thy giants to the ground. Let the people arise, get
them to the valley of Josaphat: for there will I sit, and judge all
the Heathen round about. Lay to your scythes, for the harvest is
ripe: come, get you down: the wine press is full, yee the wine press
run over, for their wickedness is waxen great.
In the valley appointed, there shall be many, many people: for
the day of the Lord is nye in the valley appointed. The sun and the
moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their light.
The Lord shall roar out of Sion, a cry out of Jerusalem, that the
Heavens and earth shall quake withal. But the Lord shall be a
defense to his own people, and an refuge for the children of Israel.
Thus ye shall know, that I the Lord your God dwell upon my holy
mount Sion. Then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no
strangers go through her any more. Then shall the mountains drop
sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk. All the rivers of
Juda shall have water enough, and out of the Lords house, there
shall flow a spring, to water the broke of Sitim: but Egypt shall be
laid waste, and Edom shall be desolate: because they have dealt so
cruelly with the children of Juda, and shed innocent blood in their
land. Again, Juda shall be inhabited for evermore, and Jerusalem
from generation to generation: for I will not leave their blood
unavenged. And the Lord shall dwell in Sion.
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