Day 319 of 365

¹Israel, return to the Lord your God; for you have fallen because of your sin.

²Take words with you, and return to the Lord. Tell him, "Forgive all our sins, and accept that which is good: so we offer our lips like bulls.

³Assyria can't save us. We won't ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, 'Our gods!' for in you the fatherless finds mercy."

⁴"I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him.

⁵I will be like the dew to Israel. He will blossom like the lily, and send down his roots like Lebanon.

⁶His branches will spread, and his beauty will be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon.

⁷Men will dwell in his shade. They will revive like the grain, and blossom like the vine. Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? I answer, and will take care of him. I am like a green fir tree; from me your fruit is found."

⁹Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them.

¹The Word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

²Hear this, you elders, And listen, all you inhabitants of the land. Has this ever happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?

³Tell your children about it, and have your children tell their children, and their children, another generation.

⁴What the swarming locust 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.

⁵Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

⁶For a nation has come up on my land, strong, and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a lioness.

⁷He has laid my vine waste, and stripped my fig tree. He has stripped its bark, and thrown it away. Its branches are made white.

⁸Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth!

⁹The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off from the Lord's house. The priests, the Lord's ministers, mourn.

¹⁰The field is laid waste. The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed, The new wine has dried up, and the oil languishes.

¹¹Be confounded, you farmers! Wail, you vineyard keepers; for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field has perished.

¹²The vine has dried up, and the fig tree withered; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all of the trees of the field are withered; for joy has withered away from the sons of men.

¹³Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God's house.

¹⁴Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders, and all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of the Lord, your God, and cry to the Lord.

¹⁵Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

¹⁶Isn't the food cut off before our eyes; joy and gladness from the house of our God?

¹⁷The seeds rot under their clods. The granaries are laid desolate. The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.

¹⁸How the animals groan! The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture. Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

¹⁹The Lord, I cry to you, For the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.

²⁰Yes, the animals of the field pant to you, for the water brooks have dried up, And the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

¹Blow 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 comes, for it is close at hand:

²A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn spreading on the mountains, a great and strong people; there has never been the like, neither will there be any more after them, even to the years of many generations.

³A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.

⁴The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and as horsemen, so do they run.

⁵Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

⁶At their presence the peoples are in anguish. All faces have grown pale.

⁷They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like warriors. They each march in his line, and they do not swerve off course.

⁸Neither does one jostle another; they march everyone in his path, and they burst through the defenses, and do not break ranks.

⁹They rush on the city. They run on the wall. They climb up into the houses. They enter in at the windows like thieves.

¹⁰The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

¹¹The Lord thunders his voice before his army; for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of the Lord is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?

¹²"Yet even now," says the Lord, "turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning."

¹³Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.

¹⁴Who 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.

¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly.

¹⁶Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children, and those who suck the breasts. Let the bridegroom go forth from his room, and the bride out of her chamber.

¹⁷Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, "Spare your people, 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?'"

¹⁸Then the Lord was jealous for his land, And had pity on his people.

¹⁹The Lord answered his people, "Behold, I will send you grain, new wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied with them; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

²⁰But I will remove the northern army far away from you, and will drive it into a barren and desolate land, its front into the eastern sea, and its back into the western sea; and its stench will come up, and its bad smell will rise." Surely he has done great things.

²¹Land, do not be afraid. Be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things.

²²Do not be afraid, you animals of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness spring up, for the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.

²³"Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord, your God; for he gives you the former rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain, as before.

²⁴The threshing floors will be full of wheat, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

²⁵I 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.

²⁶You will have plenty to eat, and be satisfied, and will praise the name of the Lord, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and my people will never again be disappointed.

²⁷You will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord, your God, and there is no one else; and my people will never again be disappointed.

²⁸"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.

²⁹And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit.

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

³¹The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.

³²It will happen that whoever will call on the name of the Lord 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.

¹The heavens declare the glory of God. The expanse shows his handiwork.

²Day after day they pour forth speech, and night after night they display knowledge.

³There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

⁴Their voice has gone out through all the earth, their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,

⁵which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a strong man rejoicing to run his course.

⁶His going forth is from the end of the heavens, his circuit to its ends; There is nothing hidden from its heat.

⁷The Lord's Law is perfect, restoring the soul. The Lord's testimony is sure, making wise the simple.

⁸The Lord's precepts are right, rejoicing the heart. The Lord's commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes.

⁹The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The Lord's ordinances are true, and righteous altogether.

¹⁰More to be desired are they than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the extract of the honeycomb.

¹¹Moreover by them is your servant warned. In keeping them there is great reward.

¹²Who can discern his errors? Forgive me from hidden errors.

¹³Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I will be upright. I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, Lord, my rock, and my redeemer.

¹Wisdom has built her house. She has carved out her seven pillars.

²She has prepared her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also set her table.

³She has sent out her maidens. She cries from the highest places of the city:

⁴"Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!" As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him,

⁵"Come, eat some of my bread, Drink some of the wine which I have mixed!

⁶Leave your simple ways, and live. Walk in the way of understanding."

⁷He who corrects a mocker invites insult. He who reproves a wicked man invites abuse.

⁸Do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

⁹Instruct a wise man, and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

¹⁰The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

¹¹For by me your days will be multiplied. The years of your life will be increased.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for yourself. If you mock, you alone will bear it.

¹³The foolish woman is loud, Undisciplined, and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,

¹⁵To call to those who pass by, who go straight on their ways,

¹⁶"Whoever is simple, let him turn in here." as for him who is void of understanding, she says to him,

¹⁷"Stolen water is sweet. Food eaten in secret is pleasant."

¹⁸But he doesn't know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.