Scribe 17

Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where {is} their God? {rule over: or, use a byword against}

Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:

And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he {is} gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Who knoweth {if} he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; {even} a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye {even} to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp {is} very great: for {he is} strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD {is} great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and {when} they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. {sword: or, dart}

They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:

Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. {blackness: Heb. pot}

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

The appearance of them {is} as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.

A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land {is} as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, {even} to the years of many generations. {of many...: Heb. of generation and generation}

Blow ye 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 cometh, for {it is} nigh at hand; {trumpet: or, cornet}

Joel 2

The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. {pastures: or, habitations}

How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. {seed: Heb. grains}

Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, {yea}, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD {is} at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders {and} all the inhabitants of the land {into} the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD, {solemn...: or, day of restraint}

Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, {even} all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.

Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.

The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD'S ministers, mourn.