Through My Bible Yr 2 – February 11

The LORD’s Answer

¹⁸ Then the LORD will be jealous for his land
and take pity on his people.

¹⁹ The LORD will reply ^[a] to them:
“I am sending you grain, new wine and oil,
enough to satisfy you fully;
never again will I make you
an object of scorn to the nations.

²⁰ “I will drive the northern army far from you,
pushing it into a parched and barren land,
with its front columns going into the eastern sea ^[b]
and those in the rear into the western sea. ^[c]
And its stench will go up;
its smell will rise.”
Surely he has done great things. ^[d]

²¹ Be not afraid, O land;
be glad and rejoice.
Surely the LORD has done great things.

²² Be not afraid, O wild animals,
for the open pastures are becoming green.
The trees are bearing their fruit;
the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.

²³ Be glad, O people of Zion,
rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given you
the autumn rains in righteousness. ^[e]
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.

²⁴ The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

²⁵ “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm ^[f]—
my great army that I sent among you.

²⁶ You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.

²⁷ Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the LORD your God,
and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.

The Day of the LORD

²⁸ “And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.

²⁹ Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

³⁰ I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.

³¹ The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

³² And everyone who calls
on the name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the LORD has said,
among the survivors
whom the LORD calls.

Joel 3

The Nations Judged

¹ “In those days and at that time,
when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

² I will gather all nations
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. ^[g]
There I will enter into judgment against them
concerning my inheritance, my people Israel,
for they scattered my people among the nations
and divided up my land.

³ They cast lots for my people
and traded boys for prostitutes;
they sold girls for wine
that they might drink.

⁴ “Now what have you against me, O Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done. ⁵ For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples. ⁶You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland.

⁷ “See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them, and I will return on your own heads what you have done. ⁸I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.” The LORD has spoken.

⁹ Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for war!
Rouse the warriors!
Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.

¹⁰ Beat your plowshares into swords
and your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weakling say,
“I am strong!”

¹¹ Come quickly, all you nations from every side,
and assemble there.
Bring down your warriors, O LORD!

¹² “Let the nations be roused;
let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit
to judge all the nations on every side.

¹³ Swing the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes,
for the winepress is full
and the vats overflow—
so great is their wickedness!”

¹⁴ Multitudes, multitudes
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the LORD is near
in the valley of decision.

¹⁵ The sun and moon will be darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.

¹⁶ The LORD will roar from Zion
and thunder from Jerusalem;
the earth and the sky will tremble.
But the LORD will be a refuge for his people,
a stronghold for the people of Israel.

Blessings for God’s People

¹⁷ “Then you will know that I, the LORD your God,
dwell in Zion, my holy hill.
Jerusalem will be holy;
never again will foreigners invade her.

¹⁸ “In that day the mountains will drip new wine,
and the hills will flow with milk;
all the ravines of Judah will run with water.
A fountain will flow out of the LORD’s house
and will water the valley of acacias. ^[h]

¹⁹ But Egypt will be desolate,
Edom a desert waste,
because of violence done to the people of Judah,
in whose land they shed innocent blood.

²⁰ Judah will be inhabited forever
and Jerusalem through all generations.

²¹ Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned,
I will pardon.”
The LORD dwells in Zion!

Footnotes:

1. Joel 2:19 Or LORD was jealous ? / and took pity ? / 19 The LORD replied
2. Joel 2:20 That is, the Dead Sea
3. Joel 2:20 That is, the Mediterranean
4. Joel 2:20 Or rise. / Surely it has done great things.”
5. Joel 2:23 Or / the teacher for righteousness:
6. Joel 2:25 The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.
7. Joel 3:2 Jehoshaphat means the LORD judges ; also in verse 12.
8. Joel 3:18 Or Valley of Shittim

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.