Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today we read the entire book of Joel,
chapters 1 through 3. Chapter 1. The word of
the Lord that came to Joel the son of Bethuel.
Hear this, you elders, and give ear all you inhabitants
of the land. Has anything like this happened
in your days or even in the days of your fathers?
Tell your children about it. Let your children
tell their children and their children another
generation. What the chewing locust left, the
swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming
locust left, the crawling locust has eaten. And
what the crawling locust left, the consuming
locust has eaten. Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of
the new wine, for it has been cut off from your
mouth. For a nation has come up against my land,
strong and without number. His teeth are the
teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a fierce
lion. He has laid waste my vine and ruined my
fig tree. He has stripped it bare and thrown
it away. Its branches are made white. Lament
like a virgin girded with sackcloth. For the
husband of her youth, the grain offering and
the drink offering have been cut off from the
house of the Lord. The priests mourn who minister
to the Lord. The field is wasted. The land mourns,
for the grain is ruined. The new wine is dried
up, the oil fails. Be ashamed, you farmers, wail,
you vine -dressers, for the wheat and the barley,
because the harvest of the field has perished.
The vine has dried up, and the fig tree has withered.
The pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and
the apple tree, all the trees of the field are
withered. Surely joy has withered away from the
sons of men. Gird yourselves and lament, you
priests. Wail, you who minister before the altar.
Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you who minister
to my God. For the grain offering and the drink
offering are withheld from the house of your
God. Consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly,
gather the elders and all the inhabitants of
the land into the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord. Alas for the day! For
the day of the Lord is at hand. It shall come
as destruction from the Almighty. Is not the
food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness
from the house of our God? The seed shrivels
under the clods. Storehouses are in shambles.
Barns are broken down. For the grain has withered.
How the animals groan. The herds of cattle are
restless, because they have no pasture. Even
the flocks of sheep suffer punishment. O Lord,
to you I cry out. For fire has devoured the open
pastures, and a flame has burned all the trees
of the field. The beasts of the field also cry
out to you, for the water brooks are dried up,
and fire has devoured the open pastures. Chapter
2 Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm
in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants
of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord
is coming, for it is at hand. a day of darkness
and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.
Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains,
a people come, great and strong, the like of
whom has never been, nor will there ever be any
such after them, even for many successive generations.
A fire devours before them, and behind them a
flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden
before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness.
Surely nothing shall escape them. Their appearance
is like the appearance of horses, and like swift
steeds, so they run. With a noise like chariots,
over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of
a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like
a strong people set in battle array. Before them,
the people ride in pain. All faces are drained
of color. They run like mighty men. They climb
the wall like men of war. Everyone marches in
formation. And they do not break ranks. They
do not push one another. Everyone marches in
his own column. Though they lunge between the
weapons, they are not cut down. They run to and
fro in the city. They run on the wall. They climb
into the houses. They enter at the windows like
a thief. The earth quakes before them. The heavens
tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the
stars diminish their brightness. The Lord gives
voice before his army, for his camp is very great.
For strong is the one who executes his word.
For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible.
Who can endure it? Now therefore, says the Lord,
turn to me with all your heart, with fasting,
with weeping, and with mourning. So rend your
heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord
your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow
to anger and of great kindness, and he relents
from doing harm. Who knows if he will turn and
relent and leave a blessing behind him, a grain
offering and a drink offering for the Lord your
God. Blow the trumpet in Zion. Consecrate a fast.
Call a sacred assembly. Gather the people. Sanctify
the congregation. Assemble the elders. Gather
the children and nursing babes. Let the bridegroom
go out from his chamber and the bride from her
dressing room. Let the priests who minister to
the Lord Weep between the porch and the altar.
Let them say, Spare your people, O Lord, and
do not give your heritage to reproach, that the
nations should rule over them. Why should they
say among the peoples, Where is their God? Then
the Lord will be zealous for his land, and pity
his people. The Lord will answer and say to his
people, Behold, I will send you grain and new
wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them.
I will no longer make you a reproach among the
nations, but I will remove far from you the northern
army, and will drive him away into a barren and
desolate land, with his face toward the eastern
sea and his back toward the western sea. His
stench will come up and his foul odor will rise,
because he has done monstrous things. Fear not,
O land, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has
done marvelous things. Do not be afraid, you
beasts of the field, for the open pastures are
springing up, and the tree bears its fruit. The
fig tree and the vine yield their strength. Be
glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice
in the Lord your God, for he has given you the
former rain faithfully, and he will cause the
rain to come down for you, the former rain and
the latter rain in the first month. The threshing
floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall
overflow with new wine and oil. So I will restore
to you the years that the swarming locust has
eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust,
and the chewing locust, my great army which I
sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be
satisfied. And praise the name of the Lord your
God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my
people shall never be put to shame. Then you
shall know that I am in the midst of Israel.
I am the Lord your God, and there is no other.
My people shall never be put to shame. And it
shall come to pass afterward that I will pour
out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall
dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions.
And also on my men servants and on my maid servants
I will pour out my spirit in those days. And
I will show wonders in the heavens and in the
earth. Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The
sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon
into blood. before the coming of the great and
awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to
pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord
shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said
among the remnant whom the Lord calls. When I
bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,
I will also gather all nations and bring them
down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will
enter into judgment with them there on account
of my people, my heritage, Israel, whom they
have scattered among the nations. They have also
divided up my land. They have cast lots for my
people, have given a boy as payment for a harlot,
and sold a girl for wine that they may drink.
Indeed, what have you to do with me? Otire and
Sidon, and all the coasts of Philistia. Will
you retaliate against me? But if you retaliate
against me swiftly and speedily, I will return
your retaliation upon your own head, because
you have taken my silver and my gold, and have
carried into my temples my prized possessions.
Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem
you have sold to the Greeks, that you may remove
them far from their borders. Behold, I will raise
them out of the place to which you have sold
them, and will return your retaliation upon your
own head. I will sell your sons and your daughters
into the hand of the people of Judah, and they
will sell them to the Sabians, to a people far
off, for the Lord has spoken. Proclaim this among
the nations. Prepare for war. Wake up the mighty
men. Let all the men of war draw near. Let them
come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and
your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak
say, I am strong. Assemble and come, all you
nations, and gather together all around. Cause
your mighty ones to go down there, O Lord. Let
the nations be awakened and come up to the valley
of Jehoshaphat. For there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations. Put in a sickle,
for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down, for the
winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their
wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in
the valley of decision. For the day of the Lord
is near in the valley of decision. The sun and
moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish
their brightness. The Lord also will roar from
Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem. The
heavens and earth will shake, but the Lord will
be a shelter for his people and the strength
of the children of Israel. So you shall know
that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion,
my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy,
and no aliens shall ever pass through her again.
And it will come to pass in that day that the
mountains shall drip with new wine, the hills
shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah
shall be flooded with water. A fountain shall
flow from the house of the Lord, and water the
valley of Acacias. Egypt shall be a desolation,
and Edom a desolate wilderness, because of violence
against the people of Judah. For they have shed
innocent blood in their land, but Judah shall
abide forever, and Jerusalem from generation
to generation. For I will acquit them of the
guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted.
For the Lord dwells in Zion. I hope you enjoyed
today's reading as much as I did, and I look
forward to seeing you again tomorrow to continue
on our journey. God bless you and have a great
day.