What the (A)gnawing locust has left, the [a]swarming locust has eaten;
And what the (B)swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;
And what the creeping locust has left, the (C)stripping locust has eaten.
Awake, (D)you heavy drinkers, and weep;
And wail, all you wine drinkers,
Because of the sweet wine,
For it has been (E)eliminated from your mouth.
For a (F)nation has [b]invaded my land,
Mighty and without number;
(G)Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And it has the jaws of a lioness.
It has (H)made my vine a waste
And my fig tree a stump.
It has stripped them bare and hurled them away;
Their branches have become white.

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 1:4 Or migratory
  2. Joel 1:6 Lit gone up against

A day of (A)darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness.
As dawn is spread over the mountains,
So there is a (B)great and mighty people;
There has (C)never been anything like it,
Nor will there be again after it
To the years of many generations.
A (D)fire consumes before them,
And behind them a flame devours.
The land is (E)like the Garden of Eden before them,
But a (F)desolate wilderness behind them,
And nothing at all escapes them.
Their (G)appearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like war horses, so they run.
[a]With a (H)noise as of chariots
They leap about on the tops of the mountains,
Like the [b]crackling of a (I)flame of fire consuming the stubble,
Like a mighty people drawn up for battle.
Before them the people are in (J)anguish;
All (K)faces [c]turn pale.
They run like warriors,
They climb the wall like soldiers;
And each of them (L)marches [d]in line,
Nor do they lose their way.
They do not crowd each other,
Every warrior of them marches in his path;
When they [e]burst through the [f]defenses,
They do not break ranks.
They storm the city,
They run on the wall;
They climb into the (M)houses,
They (N)enter through the windows like a thief.
10 Before them the earth (O)quakes,
The heavens tremble,
The (P)sun and the moon become dark,
And the stars lose their brightness.
11 The Lord (Q)utters His voice before (R)His army;
His camp is indeed very great,
For (S)mighty is one who carries out His word.
The (T)day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome,
And (U)who can endure it?

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 2:5 Lit Like the noise of chariots
  2. Joel 2:5 Lit sound
  3. Joel 2:6 Or become flushed
  4. Joel 2:7 Lit in his ways
  5. Joel 2:8 Lit fall
  6. Joel 2:8 Lit weapon, prob. javelin

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