Joel 2
God warns the people about an army of locusts
Do this on my
All the people who live in this country should
They should be afraid
because the
Yes, it is very near!
Black clouds will cover the whole earth.
A great army is coming.
Like
No army has ever been as powerful as this one is.
There will never be an army like it in the future.
It is like a fire all around them.
The land in front of them is like the Garden of Eden.
But behind them, it becomes like an empty
Nothing can
They are like horses that are running to a
as they jump over the tops of the mountains.
They make the sound of a fire
as it burns dry grass.
They are like a great army
that is preparing for a battle.
Everyone's face becomes white with fear.
Like soldiers, they climb over the walls of cities.
They march forward in their proper places.
They do not change their direction.
Each one of them goes straight forward.
No
as they move forward together.
and they run over its walls.
They climb into the houses.
as they go through the windows like robbers.
Even the sky itself shakes.
The sun and moon become dark.
The stars no longer give any light.
as he leads his army.
His soldiers are too many to count.
They obey all his
The
It seems that nobody will remain alive.
God tells the people to turn back to him
Show that you are sorry and return to me.
Do not only tear your clothes. That is not enough.’
Return to the Lord your God.
He is kind and he
He does not quickly become angry,
and his
He does not like to
Perhaps he will change his mind.
Perhaps he will not punish you as he has said he will.
After that he may
He may give you
so that you can offer them to him.
Tell the people that they must
Tell them to meet to
Prepare them to worship the Lord.
Bring the old people together,
as well as the children and the babies.
Even men who have just married must come from their rooms.
And
as they serve the Lord
between the
They must pray, ‘Lord, Please be kind to your people.
Do not allow the people of foreign
to
Do not allow them to
They should not say about us,
“Their God cannot help them.” ’
God promises to bless his people
He chose to be kind to his people.
‘Listen! I will now give you plenty of
You will have as much as you need.
I will never again allow people of foreign
I will send it to a dry land where nothing grows.
Those who march in the front of that army
I will send into the Salt Sea in the east.
And I will send those who are at the back
into the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
Their dead bodies will make a
Yes, the Lord has done great things!
Instead, be very happy,
because the Lord has done great things.
The fields in the
and they are green.
Fruit is growing on the trees.
The
Be very happy because of the things
that the Lord your God has done.
He has shown you that he is
He has given you rain in the right seasons,
as he has done before.
Your
‘I will give back to you the food that the
I sent that great army of locusts to
But I will now give you back as much food
as all the different locusts ate during those years.
You will not be hungry any more.
I have done great things for you.
So you will
My people will never again be
I am the Lord your God.
There is no one else.
My people will never again be ashamed.
God promises to send his Spirit on all people
Your sons and daughters will speak my message to people.
Your old men will see things in their dreams.
Your young men will see
both men and women.
and on the earth.
There will be blood, fire and clouds of smoke.
The moon will become red like the colour of blood.
Then the
It will be a great and
This is what I, the Lord, have promised.
Some people on
The people who remain alive will be those that I choose to belong to me.’