For be sure in those days, and that time,1
When Jerus’lem and Judea’s captives I free,
I will gather together the Nations
And bring to the plain of God’s land,
And there will deliver My judgment
On them on account of My race,
And Israel, My own, whom they scattered
To the heathen, who broke up My land,
And who played at their dice for My people ;
And paid for a whore with a boy,
And bought wine with a girl, to be drunk ! What are you Tyre and Sidon to Me ?
With the whole of Philistia’s vales ?
Would you take your vengeance on Me ?—
If you try silly vengeance on Me,
I vengeance will send on your heads !—
Because you have taken My silver and gold,
And carried My beautiful things to your Temples !
And the sons of Jerusalem, and Judea’s sons,
You have sold to the sons of the I’on,
To carry them far from their borders,
But I will rouse them from the place where you sold them,
And your vengeance will bring on your heads,
And sell of your sons and your daughters,
To the hands of the children of Judah,
And they will sell them to Shabaim !
To a Nation afar — for the Lord has declared it !
Arouse, heroes ! come on, — advance all men to battle !
Beat out your ploughshares to swords, and your scythes into spears !
Let the feeble exclaim, I am strong !’
Quick ! March ! all you neighbouring Nations,
And collect to the spot where the Lord
Intends you to conquer your foes !
Nations ! arouse and advance to the Plain of God’s Justice !
For there I will sit and will judge all the Nations around Me.” Swing the scythe, for the harvest is ripe, —
Come ! Tread ! For the wine-press is filling !
Make the vats overflow, for the reaping is great, —
Crowds upon crowds on the Plain of the Judgment !—
The day of the Lord has arrived on the Plain where He fixes their doom. —
The Sun and the Moon are in black,
And the Stars are withholding their beams.
For the Lord out of Zion will roar,
And send from Jerusalem His voice !
Then the skies and the Earth will be shaken ;
But to His People the Lord will be kind,
And give help to all Israel’s sons
Who acknowledge that I, Who Am Life, am their God ;
Residing in Zion, on My Holy Hill.
And Jerusalem then shall be sacred, —
And foreigners no more oppress !
Then the Mountains shall drop with sweet wine,
And milk shall flow down from the slopes,
And Judah’s brooks stream full of water ;—
And a spring shall flow from the Lord’s House
And water the Vale of Acacias ! But Mitzer shall be like a waste,
And Edom a desolate pasture,
For their crime to the Children of Judah,
Whose innocent blood they have shed in their lands. —
But Judah for ever shall last, —
And Jerusalem ages of ages !
And I will requite for their unavenged blood ;
For the Lord has His dwelling in Zion ! END OF THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JOEL.
When Jerus’lem and Judea’s captives I free,
I will gather together the Nations
And bring to the plain of God’s land,
And there will deliver My judgment
On them on account of My race,
And Israel, My own, whom they scattered
To the heathen, who broke up My land,
And who played at their dice for My people ;
And paid for a whore with a boy,
And bought wine with a girl, to be drunk ! What are you Tyre and Sidon to Me ?
With the whole of Philistia’s vales ?
Would you take your vengeance on Me ?—
If you try silly vengeance on Me,
I vengeance will send on your heads !—
Because you have taken My silver and gold,
And carried My beautiful things to your Temples !
And the sons of Jerusalem, and Judea’s sons,
You have sold to the sons of the I’on,
To carry them far from their borders,
But I will rouse them from the place where you sold them,
And your vengeance will bring on your heads,
And sell of your sons and your daughters,
To the hands of the children of Judah,
And they will sell them to Shabaim !
To a Nation afar — for the Lord has declared it !
A Promise of Success.
Proclaim to the Nations, “Prepare for the war !Arouse, heroes ! come on, — advance all men to battle !
Beat out your ploughshares to swords, and your scythes into spears !
Let the feeble exclaim, I am strong !’
Quick ! March ! all you neighbouring Nations,
And collect to the spot where the Lord
Intends you to conquer your foes !
Nations ! arouse and advance to the Plain of God’s Justice !
For there I will sit and will judge all the Nations around Me.” Swing the scythe, for the harvest is ripe, —
Come ! Tread ! For the wine-press is filling !
Make the vats overflow, for the reaping is great, —
Crowds upon crowds on the Plain of the Judgment !—
The day of the Lord has arrived on the Plain where He fixes their doom. —
The Sun and the Moon are in black,
And the Stars are withholding their beams.
For the Lord out of Zion will roar,
And send from Jerusalem His voice !
Then the skies and the Earth will be shaken ;
But to His People the Lord will be kind,
And give help to all Israel’s sons
Who acknowledge that I, Who Am Life, am their God ;
Residing in Zion, on My Holy Hill.
And Jerusalem then shall be sacred, —
And foreigners no more oppress !
Then the Mountains shall drop with sweet wine,
And milk shall flow down from the slopes,
And Judah’s brooks stream full of water ;—
And a spring shall flow from the Lord’s House
And water the Vale of Acacias ! But Mitzer shall be like a waste,
And Edom a desolate pasture,
For their crime to the Children of Judah,
Whose innocent blood they have shed in their lands. —
But Judah for ever shall last, —
And Jerusalem ages of ages !
And I will requite for their unavenged blood ;
For the Lord has His dwelling in Zion ! END OF THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JOEL.
- Note. — Chapter 4, verse 1. In all versions which rest on the Vulgate Latin there are only three chapters in Joel, but I follow the original Hebrew division, making four chapters. — F.F.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE.
This prophetic warning was uttered about 800 B.C. It takes the form of a didactic Psalm, as most other addresses of the Prophets did, their essential duty being to preach righteousness of life, not to foretell events, as now by a change in our language is popularly supposed. In the English language, as in ancient Hebrew, the word “prophesy” meant “to preach” ; the restriction of it to the sense of “foretelling” was a perversion of the eighteenth century. — F.F.Transcribed by Alastair Aikman on 06-24-2015
