Two Kingdoms · Not dated
Chapter 16
The Day of the Lord
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“Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart,and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”Tear your heart and not your garments,and turn to Yahweh, your God;for he is gracious and merciful,slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness,and relents from sending calamity.
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This chapter tells of a land ruined by locusts, drought and fire, where the grain is gone, the trees wither and the animals groan for lack of pasture (Joel 1), and of a great army that rushes on the city and climbs into the houses (2:1–11). The Lord says he will judge the nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat for scattering his people and selling them, with one line saying that they gave a boy as payment for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine, and that he will sell their own sons and daughters in turn (3:2–8); Egypt and Edom will be laid waste for the violence done to Judah’s people and the innocent blood shed in their land (3:19). The wording is plain and soft.
The word of the Lord came to , the son of . It begins:
Hear this, you ,and listen, every one of you who lives in the land!Has this ever happened in your lifetime,or in your ancestors’ lifetime?Tell your children about it,and have them tell their children,and their children the generation after them.What the has left, the great locust has eaten.What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten.What the grasshopper has left, the caterpillar has eaten.
A nation has come up into my land,strong, and too many to count.Its teeth are a lion’s teeth,and its fangs are a lioness’s.It has ruined my vineand stripped my fig tree.It has peeled off its bark and thrown it away,and its branches are left white.
The and the are cut off from the Lord’s house.The , who serve the Lord, are in mourning.The field is ruined.The land is in mourning, for the grain is destroyed,the new wine has dried up,and the olive oil is running out.
Hang your heads, you farmers!Wail, you who keep the vineyards,for the wheat and for the barley,for the field’s harvest is gone.The vine has dried up, and the fig tree has withered;the pomegranate tree, the palm tree, the apple tree too,every tree in the field has withered,for joy has withered away from all people.
Then the word turns to the priests:
Put on and mourn, you priests!Wail, you who serve at the .Come, lie all night in sackcloth,you who serve my God,for the meal offering and the drink offeringare held back from the house of your God.Set apart a .Call a solemn gathering.Gather the elders and all the people of the landto the house of the Lord your God,and cry to the Lord.
What a terrible day!For the day of the Lord is at hand,and it will come as destruction from .
How the animals groan!The herds of livestock don’t know where to turn,because they have no pasture.And the flocks of sheep are wasting away.
Then comes a prayer:
Lord, I cry to you,for fire has burned up the pastures of the wilderness,and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.The animals of the field pant toward you as well,for the brooks have run dry,and fire has burned up the pastures of the wilderness.
The next words sound an alarm:
Blow the trumpet in !Let the alarm sound on my holy mountain!Let all the people of the land tremble,for the day of the Lord comes;it is close at hand:a dark day, a gloomy day,a day of clouds and thick darkness.Like the dawn spreading on the mountainscomes a great and strong people.There has never been the like of them,and after them there will be no more,not for many generations to come.
In front of them, a fire devours;behind them, a flame burns.Where they are going, the land looks like the garden of ;where they have been, it is an empty wilderness.No one has escaped them.
They look like horses,and they run like horsemen.They leap on the mountaintops with a noise like chariots,like the noise of a flame burning up the stubble,like a strong people lined up for battle.When they come, the peoples are in anguish.Every face has turned pale.
They rush on the city.They run on the wall.They climb up into the houses.They come in at the windows like thieves.
The earth quakes before them.The heavens tremble.The sun and the moon are darkened,and the stars hold back their light.The Lord thunders with his voice in front of his army,for his forces are very great,for the one who obeys his command is strong.The day of the Lord is great and very fearsome.Who can bear it?
“Yet even now,” says the Lord, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”
People tore their clothes as a way to mourn. The call goes on:
Tear your heart, and not your garments,and turn to the Lord your God,for he is gracious and merciful,slow to anger, and full of loving kindness,and he relents from sending harm.Who knows? He may turn and relent,and leave a blessing behind him:even a meal offering and a drink offering to the Lord your God.
Blow the trumpet in Zion!Set apart a fast.Call a solemn gathering.Gather the people.Make the gathering holy.Bring the elders together.Gather the children, and the babies still nursing.Let the bridegroom come out of his room,and the bride out of hers.
Let the priests, who serve the Lord,weep between the porch of the Lord’s house and the altar,and let them say, “Spare your people, Lord.Don’t let the people who belong to you be put to shame,with the nations ruling over them.Why should they say among the peoples,‘Where is their God?’”
Then the Lord was jealous for his land, and had pity on his people.
The Lord answered his people:
Look, I will send you grain, new wine and oil,and you will have all you want of them.I will never again make you a thing of shame among the nations.I will take the northern army far away from youand drive it into a dry and empty land,its front ranks into the eastern seaand its back ranks into the western sea.Its stench will come up,and its bad smell will rise.
Surely he has done great things.Land, don’t be afraid.Be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things.Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field,for the pastures of the wilderness spring up,the tree bears its fruit,and the fig tree and the vine bear their full crop.
Be glad, then, children of Zion,and rejoice in the Lord your God,for he gives you the early rain in its right measure.He makes the rain come down for you,the early rain and the late rain, as before.The will be full of wheat,and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar,my great army, which I sent among you.You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied,and will praise the name of the Lord your God,who has treated you so wonderfully.My people will never again be disappointed.You will know that I am among Israel,and that I am the Lord your God, and there is no one else.My people will never again be disappointed.
It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;and your sons and your daughters will prophesy.Your old men will dream dreams.Your young men will see visions.And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days,I will pour out my Spirit.I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth:blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.The sun will be turned into darkness,and the moon into blood,before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.It will happen that whoever will call on the Lord’s name shall be saved;for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape,as the Lord has said,and among the remnant, those whom the Lord calls.
The Lord goes on:
Look, in those days, in that time,when I restore the fortunes of and ,I will gather all nations,bring them down into ,and judge them there for my people,for Israel, the people who belong to me,whom they have scattered among the nations.They have divided up my land.They have cast for my people.They have given a boy as payment for a ,and sold a girl for wine, so that they could drink.
And what are you to me, and ,and all the regions of ?Will you pay me back?If you do, I will quickly bringyour payment down on your own head,because you have taken my silver and my goldand carried my finest treasures into your temples,and have sold the people of Judah and of Jerusalemto the , to send them far away from their own borders.
Look, I will stir them up out of the place where you sold them,and bring your payment back down on your own head,and I will sell your sons and your daughtersinto the hands of Judah’s people,and they will sell them to the men of ,to a faraway nation.For the Lord has spoken.
Announce this among the nations:“Prepare for war!Stir up the mighty men.Let all the warriors come near.Let them come up.Beat your into swords,and your into spears.Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations,and gather yourselves together.”Bring your mighty ones down there, Lord.
Let the nations riseand come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.Put in the ,for the harvest is ripe.Come and tread, for the 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 the moon are darkened,and the stars hold back their light.The Lord will roar from Zionand thunder from Jerusalem,and the heavens and the earth will shake.But the Lord will be a refuge to his people,and a stronghold to the people of Israel.
So you will know that I am the Lord your God,and that I live in Zion, my holy mountain.Then Jerusalem will be holy,and strangers will never again pass through her.
On that day sweet wine will drip from the mountains,milk will flow from the hills,and all the brooks of Judah will flow with water.A spring will flow out from the Lord’s houseand water .
will be laid waste,and will be an empty wilderness,for the violence done to Judah’s people,because they shed innocent blood in their land.But people will live in Judah forever,and in Jerusalem from generation to generation.I will cleanse their bloodthat I have not cleansed,for the Lord lives in Zion.