Joel 2:12-22

12 Now therefore saith the Lord, Be ye turned again to me in all your heart, in fasting, and weeping, and wailing; (And yet even now, saith the Lord, turn ye again to me/return to me, with all your heart, with fasting, and weeping, and wailing;)

13 and carve ye your hearts, and not your clothes, and be ye turned again to your Lord God, for he is benign, and merciful, patient, and of much mercy, and abiding, either forgiving, on malice. (and carve ye, or rend ye, your hearts, and not your clothes, and turn ye again to the Lord your God/and return to the Lord your God, for he is benign, and merciful, patient, and of much mercy, and forgiving of malice.)

14 Who knoweth, if God be (not) turned again, and forgive, and leave blessing after him? sacrifice and moist sacrifice to our Lord God. (Who knoweth, if God shall not turn again, or repent, and forgive, and even leave a blessing behind him? so, offer ye grain and wine to the Lord our God!)

15 Sing ye with a trump in Zion, hallow ye fasting, call ye (a) company; (Sing ye with a trumpet in Zion, call ye for a fast, call ye the congregation;)

16 gather together the people, hallow ye the church (gather together the people, call ye the congregation), gather ye together (the) eld men, gather ye together (the) little children, and (those) sucking the breasts; a spouse go out of his bed, and a spousess (out) of her chamber.

17 Priests, the ministers of the Lord, shall weep betwixt the porch and the altar, and shall say, Lord! spare thou, spare thy people, and give thou not thine heritage into shame, that nations be lords of them. Why say they among peoples, Where is the God of them? (The priests, the ministers of the Lord, shall weep between the porch and the altar, and shall say, Lord! spare thou, spare thy people, and give thou not thy own inheritance into shame, so that the nations be their lords. Why let the heathen say, Where is their God?)

18 The Lord loved jealously his land, and spared his people. (And then the Lord jealously, or zealously, loved his land, and spared his people.)

19 And the Lord answered, and said to his people, Lo! I shall send to you wheat, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be [ful]filled with those; and I shall no more give you (to be a) shame among heathen men. (And the Lord said to his people, Lo! I shall send you corn, or grain, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be fulfilled, or satisfied, with them/and ye shall be filled full with them; and I shall no more allow you to be the reproach of the heathen.)

20 And I shall make him that is at the north far from you; and I shall cast him out into a land without way, and desert; his face against the east sea, and the last part thereof at the last sea; and the stink thereof shall go up, and the root thereof shall ascend, for he did proudly. (And I shall make those who be at the north to go far away from you; and I shall throw them out into a land without a way, and turned into a desert; their front forces shall turn toward the East Sea, or the Dead Sea, and their last parts toward the West Sea, or the Mediterranean Sea; and the stink of their carrion, or of their corpses, shall go up, for I shall go out against them, because of what they did so proudly to thee.)

21 Earth, do not thou dread, make thou full out joy, and be glad; for the Lord magnified that (that) he should do. (O earth/O land, do not thou fear, rejoice, and be happy; for the Lord magnified what he said he would do.)

22 Beasts of the country, do not ye dread, for the fair things of desert burgeoned; for the tree brought his fruit, the fig tree and [the] vinery gave their strength. (Beasts in the fields, do not ye fear, for the beautiful things of the desert have burgeoned/for the pastures of the wilderness have become green; the trees have brought forth their fruit, and the fig trees and the vines gave their harvest.)

Joel 2:12-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOEL 2

In this chapter a further account is given of the judgment of the locusts and caterpillars, or of those who are designed by them, Joe 2:1-11; the people of the Jews are called to repentance, humiliation, and fasting, urged from the grace and goodness of God, his jealousy and pity for his people, and the answer of prayer that might he expected from him upon this, even to the removal of the calamity, Joe 2:12-20; a prophecy of good things, both temporal and spiritual, in the times of the Messiah, is delivered out as matter and occasion of great joy, Joe 2:21-27; and another concerning the effusion of the Spirit, which was fulfilled an the day of Pentecost, Joe 2:28-29; and the chapter is concluded with the judgments and desolations that should come upon the land of Judea after this, for their rejection of Christ, though the remnant according to the election of grace should be delivered and saved from the general destruction, Joe 2:30-32.