The prophetic book of Joel
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Verse by verse, account of the book of Joel.

Joel: chapter 1

¹The Word of the LORD that was given to the prophet Joel the son of Pethuel. ²Hear this you elders and all the people of the land. Nothing such as this has ever happened in your day or even in the days of your fathers. ³Tell your children about this and may they tell their children. ⁴All has been destroyed, to the very last. ⁵Awake, you drunkards, weep and wail, for your self-indulgent lifestyle has come to an end. ⁶For a strong and fierce nation has come up against you. ⁷They have pillaged My people and stripped the land bare. ⁸Greatly lament, as a virgin girded in sackcloth for the husband of her youth. ⁹For the food and drink that the people give sacrifices to the LORD with has dried up. Therefore, the priests also mourn, (NOTE: for they were dependent on the sacrifices offered to the LORD, for their personal food). ¹⁰The fields are wasted and they mourn, the grain is ruined and the new wine and the oil fail. ¹¹Farmers, be ashamed for your harvest has perished. ¹²all the fruit trees are dried up and barren and the joy of the people has left them.

¹³Weep and wail, all you priest's who minister before the Lord and lie all night in sackcloth, for there are no more grain or drink offerings. ¹⁴Gather together the elders and the people of the land, declare a fast and cry out to the LORD. ¹⁵The day of the LORD is at hand and it shall bring forth great destruction from the Almighty. ¹⁶For your food has perished from before your eyes, your joy and gladness has faded. ¹⁷Your storehouses and barns are broken down and in shambles, for the grain has withered. ¹⁸Even your cattle and sheep do without pasture land and suffer punishment.

¹⁹LORD, I cry out to You, for fire has burnt our pasture land and all the trees in the fields. ²⁰The beasts of the field also cry out to You, for the brooks are dried up and the pastures have been destroyed by fire.

Joel: chapter 2

¹Sound the trumpet in Zion, let all the people tremble, for the day of the LORD is at hand. ²A day of clouds and thick darkness, bring forth an army of great and strong men. A likeness that has never been before nor will be again. ³They come destroying all that is in their sight, the land is beautiful before them and they leave it as a desolate wasteland. ⁴Their appearance is like that of swift horses and so they run. ⁵With the noise of war they come as a strong nation dressed in battle array, with the noise of war they devour even the stubble. ⁶Before them, people shake with fear and become pale. ⁷They charge like mighty men of war, everyone in formation and disciplined. ⁸They march in order and uniformed, they walk right between the weapons and are not cut down. ⁹They infiltrate the city and climb into the windows of the houses, just as a thief. ¹⁰The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble and the sun, moon and stars grow dark. ¹¹This is the army of the LORD, strong is the one who executes His Word. For great and terrible is the day of the LORD, who can endure it?

¹²Therefore, says the LORD; Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping and mourning. ¹³Give your hearts to the LORD and not your possessions. Return to the LORD for He is merciful and slow to anger and will relent from doing harm. ¹⁴If men turn, who knows the LORD may turn and relent, leaving a blessing behind Him, so that you may have the provisions to serve Him. ¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Jerusalem and call together a sacred assembly for a fast. ¹⁶Gather the elders, people, children and infants, no one shall be exempt and sanctify the congregation. ¹⁷Let the ministering priests weep and interceded for their people, saying. Spare your people LORD and do not forsake Your people, that other nations should rule over them, mocking Your people, saying; where is your God?

¹⁸Then the LORD will pity His people and be zealous for His land. ¹⁹Answering His people and sending them grain, new wine and oil and they shall be satisfied and the LORD will no longer make you a reproach among the nations. ²⁰I will remove the destroying northern army from you and it shall appear as a decaying mass of locusts, for they have done terrible things. ²¹The land shall then once again be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things. ²²The beasts of the field shall no longer be afraid, for the pasture land will again be green, the trees will bear their fruit and the fig tree and vine their strength. ²³Be glad then all you children and rejoice in the LORD, for He has given you the former and will give you the latter rain. ²⁴Your storehouses shall then again be filled with grain and wine. ²⁵And I will restore to you the years that My army of locusts have eaten. ²⁶You shall eat in abundance and be filled, praising the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt mercifully with you and My people shall never again be put to shame. ²⁷Then you shall know that I am with you, I am God and there is none other than Me. And My people shall never be put to shame again.

²⁸After this, I shall pour out My Spirit on all your sons and daughters and they shall prophecy. Your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions. ²⁹Also I will pour out My Spirit on your menservants and maidservants in those days. ³⁰I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth of, blood, file and smoke. ³¹The sun shall become dark and the moon blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. ³²And whomever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved, just as the LORD calls His people from among a remnant.

Joel: chapter 3

¹In the days when the Lord brings back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem. ²I will also gather all the nations together and pronounce judgment on them, on account of My people Israel. For the nations have scattered My people among the nations and have divided up My land. ³They have bartered for My people, giving a boy in traded for a harlot and girl in trade for wine. ⁴This behavior is not of My character, do you really have anything to do with Me? Just as Tyre and Sidon, do you think you can retaliate against Me? I will surely return your retaliation back upon you. ⁵Because you have taken My good treasure of silver and gold and have carried them into your temples. ⁶You have also taken My people, sold them, thus removing them from their own borders.

⁷But I shall restore them out of where you have sold them and will return your wicked deed back upon your own head. ⁸Your sons and daughters shall I sell into the hand of the people of Judah and they shall sell them into far off nations. ⁹So let all the nations know that you are preparing for war, gather your mighty men together. ¹⁰Change your tools of peace into weapons of war. Let the weak say they are strong. ¹¹Let all the nations come and gather together and the LORD will bring down His mighty ones. ¹²In that valley I will judge all the surrounding nations. ¹³For the time has come, for their wickedness is great. ¹⁴Multitudes will gather in that day of the LORD, in the day of decision. ¹⁵That day, the sun and moon will grow dark and the stars will grow dim. ¹⁶The LORD shall roar from Zion and be heard out of Jerusalem and the heavens and the earth shall shake. But, the LORD will be a shelter for His people and the strength for the children of Israel. ¹⁷Then you shall know that I am the LORD, who dwells in Mount Zion. Jerusalem shall then be holy and will never be troubled again by foreigners.

¹⁸In those days, the land shall bring forth its harvest in abundance and all the brooks of Judah shall be filled to overflowing, for a fountain shall flow from the LORD and water the plains. ¹⁹Egypt and Edom shall be desolate places, because of the violence to the people of Judah and how they have shed innocent blood in their land. ²⁰But Judah and Jerusalem will abide forever. ²¹For I will then acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed that I had not done so in the past, for the LORD dwells in Zion.