[9] From the time the hills existed Israel has sinned: there they stood: war waged against the children of iniquity [10] to chastise them shall not overtake them on the hill, the nations shall be gathered against them, when they are chastened for their two sins, [11] Ephraim is a heifer taught to love victory, but I will come upon the fairest part of her neck: I will mount Ephraim; I will pass over Juda in silence; Jacob shall prevail against him.
[12] Sow to yourselves for righteousness, gather in for the fruit of life: light ye for yourselves the light of knowledge; seek the Lord till the fruits of righteousness come upon you. [13] Wherefore have ye passed over ungodliness in silence, and reaped the sins of it? ye have eaten false fruit; for thou has trusted in thy sins, in the abundance of thy power. [14] Therefore shall destruction rise up among thy people, and all thy strong places shall be ruined: as a prince Solomon departed out of the house of Jeroboam, in the days of battle they dashed the mother to the ground upon the children, [15] thus will I do to you, O house of Israel, because of the unrighteousness of your sins.
Chapter 11
[1] Early in the morning were they cast off, the king of Israel has been cast off: for Israel is a child, and I loved him, and out of Egypt have I called his children. [2] As I called them, so they departed from my presence: they sacrificed to Baalim, and burnt incense to graven images. [3] Yet I bound the feet of Ephraim, I took him on my arm; but they knew not that I healed them. [4] When men were destroyed, I drew them with the bands of my love: and I will be to them as a man smiting another on his cheek: and I will have respect to him, I will prevail with him.
[5] Ephraim dwelt in Egypt; and as for the Assyrian, he was his king, because he would not return. [6] And in his cities he prevailed not with the sword, and he ceased to war with his hands: and they shall eat of the fruit of their own devices: [7] and his people shall cleave fondly to their habitation; but God shall be angry with his precious things, and shall not at all exalt him.
[8] How shall I deal with thee, Ephraim? how shall I protect thee, Israel? what shall I do with thee? I will make thee as Adama, and as Seboim; my heart is turned at once, my repentance is powerfully excited. [9] I will not act according to the fury of my wrath, I will not abandon Ephraim to be utterly destroyed: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One within thee: and I will not enter into the city. [10] I will go after the Lord: he shall utter his voice as a lion: for he shall roar, and the children of the waters shall be amazed. [11] They shall be amazed and fly as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of the Assyrians: and I will restore them to their houses, saith the Lord.
[12] Ephraim has compassed me with falsehood, and the house of Israel and Juda with ungodliness: but now God knows them, and they shall be called God’s holy people.
Chapter 12
[1] But Ephraim is an evil spirit, he has chased the east wind all the day: he has multiplied empty and vain things, and made a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil has gone in the way of traffic into Egypt. [2] And the Lord has a controversy with Juda, in order to punish Jacob: according to his ways and according to his practices will he recompense him.
[3] He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his labours he had power with God. [4] And he prevailed with the angel and was strong: they wept, and intreated me: they found me in the house of On, and there a word was spoken to them. [5] But the Lord God Almighty shall be his memorial. [6] Thou therefore shalt return to thy God: keep thou mercy and judgment, and draw nigh to thy God continually.
[7] As for Chanaan, in his hand is a balance of unrighteousness: he has loved to tyrannize. [8] And Ephraim said, Nevertheless I am rich, I have found refreshment to myself. None of his labours shall be found available to him, by reason of the sins which he has committed. [9] But I the Lord thy God brought thee up out of the land of Egypt: I will yet cause thee to dwell in tabernacles, according to the days of the feast. [10] And I will speak to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and by the means of the prophets I was represented. [11] If Galaad exists not, then the chiefs in Galaad when they sacrificed were false, and their altars were as heaps on the ground of the field.
[12] And Jacob retreated into the plain of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and waited for a wife. [13] And the Lord brought Israel out of the land of Egypt by a prophet, and by a prophet was he preserve. [14] Ephraim was angry and excited, therefore his blood shall be poured out upon him, and the Lord shall recompense to him his reproach.
Chapter 13
[1] According to the word of Ephraim he adopted ordinances for himself in Israel; and he established them for Baal, and died. [2] And now they have sinned increasingly, and have made for themselves a molten image of their silver, according to the fashion of idols, the work of artificers accomplished for them: they say, Sacrifice men, for the calves have come to an end. [3] Therefore shall they be as a morning cloud, and as the early dew that passes away, as chaff blown away from the threshing-floor, and as a vapor from tears. [4] But I am the Lord thy God that establishes the heaven, and creates the earth, whose hands have framed the whole host of heaven: but I shewed them not to thee that thou shouldest go after them: and I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me; and there is no Saviour beside me. [5] I tended thee as a shepherd in the wilderness, in an uninhabited land. [6] According to their pastures, so they were completely filled; and their hearts were exalted; therefore they forgot me. [7] And I will be to them as a panther, and as a leopard. [8] I will meet them by the way of the Assyrians, as a she-bear excited, and I will rend the caul of their heart, and the lions’ whelps of the thicket shall devour them there; the wild beasts of the field shall rend them in pieces.
[9] O Israel, who will aid thee in thy destruction? [10] Where is this thy king? let him even save thee in all thy cities: let him judge thee, of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and a prince. [11] And I gave thee a king in mine anger, and kept him back in my wrath.
[12] Ephraim has framed a conspiracy of unrighteousness, his sin is hidden. [13] Pains as of a woman in travail shall come upon him: he is thy wise son, because he shall not stay in the destruction of thy children. [14] I will deliver them out of the power of Hades, and will redeem them from death: where is thy penalty, O death? O Hades, where is thy sting? comfort is hidden from mine eyes.
[15] Forasmuch as he will cause a division among his brethren, the Lord shall bring upon him an east wind from the desert, and shall dry up his veins and quite drain his fountains: he shall dry up his land, and spoil all his precious vessels.
Chapter 14
[1] Samaria shall be utterly destroyed: for she has resisted her God; they shall fall by the sword, and their sucklings shall be dashed against the ground, and their women with child ripped up.
[2] Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God; for the people have fallen through thine iniquities. [3] Take with you words, and turn to the Lord your God: speak to him, that ye may not receive the reward of unrighteousness, but that ye may receive good things: and we will render in return the fruit of our lips. [4] Assur shall never save us; we will not mount on horseback; we will no longer say to the works of our hands, Our gods. He who is in thee shall pity the orphan.
[5] I will restore their dwellings, I will love them truly: for he has turned away my wrath from him. [6] I will be as dew to Israel: he shall bloom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Libanus. [7] His branches shall spread, and he shall be as a fruitful olive, and his smell shall be as the smell of Libanus. [8] They shall return, and dwell under his shadow: they shall live and be satisfied with corn, and he shall flower as a vine: his memorial shall be to Ephraim as the wine of Libanus. [9] What has he to do any more with idols? I have afflicted him, and I will strengthen him: I am as a leafy juniper tree. From me is thy fruit found.
[10] Who is wise, and will understand these things? or prudent, and will know them? for the ways of the Lord are straight, and the righteous shall walk in them: but the ungodly shall fall therein.
Joel
Chapter 1
[1] The word of the Lord which came to Joel the son of Bathuel.
[2] Hear these words, ye elders, and hearken all ye that inhabit the land. Have such things happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers? [3] Tell your children concerning them, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. [4] The leavings of the caterpillar has the locust eaten, and the leavings of the locust has the palmerworm eaten, and the leavings of the palmerworm has the cankerworm eaten.
[5] Awake, ye drunkards, from your wine, and weep: mourn, all ye that drink wine to drunkenness: for joy and gladness and removed are from your mouth. [6] For a strong and innumerable nation is come up against my land, their teeth are lion’s teeth, and their back teeth those of a lion’s whelp. [7] He has ruined my vine, and utterly broken my fig-trees: he has utterly searched my vine, and cast it down; he has peeled its branches.
[8] Lament to me more than a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. [9] The meat-offering and drink-offering are removed from the house of the Lord: mourn, ye priests that serve at the altar of the Lord. [10] For the plains languish: let the land mourn, for the corn languishes; the wine is dried up, the oil becomes scarce; [11] the husbandmen are consumed: mourn your property on account of the wheat and barley; for the harvest has perished from off the field. [12] The vine is dried up, and the fig-trees are become few; the pomegranate, and palm-tree, and apple, and all trees of the field are dried up: for the sons of men have have abolished joy.
[13] Gird yourselves with sackcloth, and lament, ye priests: mourn, ye that serve at the altar: go in, sleep in sackcloths, ye that minister to God: for the meat-offering and drink-offering are withheld from the house of your God.
[14] Sanctify a fast, proclaim a solemn service, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God, and cry earnestly to the Lord,
[15] Alas, Alas, Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is nigh, and it will come as trouble upon trouble. [16] Your meat has been destroyed before your eyes, joy and gladness from out of the house of your God. [17] The heifers have started at their mangers, the treasures are abolished, the wine-presses are broken down; for the corn is withered. [18] What shall we store up for ourselves? the herds of cattle have mourned, because they had no pasture; and the flocks of sheep have been utterly destroyed. [19] To thee, O Lord, will I cry: for fire has devoured the fair places of the wilderness, and a flame has burnt up all the trees of the field. [20] And the cattle of the field have looked up to thee: for the fountains of waters have been dried up, and fire has devoured the fair places of the wilderness.
Chapter 2
[1] Sound the trumpet in Sion, make a proclamation in my holy mountain, and let all the inhabitants of the land be confounded: for the day of the Lord is near; [2] for a day of darkness and gloominess is near, a day of cloud and mist: a numerous and strong people shall be spread upon the mountains as the morning; there has not been from the beginning one like it, and after it there shall not be again even to the years of many generations. [3] Before them is a consuming fire, and behind them is a flame kindled: the land before them is as a paradise of delight, and behind them a desolate plain: and there shall none of them escape.
[4] Their appearance is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they pursue. [5] As the sound of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, and as the sound of a flame of fire devouring stubble, and as a numerous and strong people setting themselves in array for battle. [6] Before them shall the people be crushed: every face shall be as the blackness of a caldron. [7] As warriors shall they run, and as men of war shall they mount on the walls; and each shall move in his right path, and they shall not turn aside from their tracks: [8] and not one shall stand aloof from his brother: they shall go on weighed down with their arms, and they fall upon their weapons, yet shall they in no wise be destroyed. [9] They shall seize upon the city, and run upon the walls, and go up upon the houses, and enter in through the windows as thieves. [10] Before them the earth shall be confounded, and the sky shall be shaken: the sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their light. [11] And the Lord shall utter his voice before his host: for his camp is very great: for the execution of his words is mighty: for the day of the Lord is great, very glorious, and who shall be able to resist it?
[12] Now therefore, saith the Lord your God, turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with lamentation: [13] and rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for he is merciful and compassionate, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy, and repents of evils. [14] Who knows if he will return, and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat-offering and a drink-offering to the Lord your God?
[15] Sound the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, proclaim a solemn service: [16] gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the infants at the breast: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. [17] Between the porch and the altar let the priests that minister to the Lord weep, and say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them, lest they should say among the heathen, Where is their God?
[18] But the Lord was jealous of his land, and spared his people. [19] And the Lord answered and said to his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied with them: and I will no longer make you a reproach among the Gentiles. [20] And I will chase away from you the northern adversary, and will drive him away into a dry land, and I will sink his face in the former sea, and his back parts in the latter sea, and his ill savour shall come up, and his stink come up, because he has wrought great things.
[21] Be of good courage, O land; rejoice and be glad: for the Lord has done great things. [22] Be of good courage, ye beasts of the plain, for the plains of the wilderness have budded, for the trees have borne their fruit, the fig tree and the vine have yielded their strength. [23] Rejoice then and be glad, ye children of Sion, in the Lord your God: for he has given you food fully, and he will rain on you the early and the latter rain, as before. [24] And the floors shall be filled with corn, and the presses shall overflow with wine and oil. [25] And I will recompense you for the years which the locust, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, and the cankerworm have eaten, even my great army, which I sent against you. [26] And ye shall eat abundantly, and be satisfied, and shall praise the name of the Lord your God for the things which he has wrought wonderfully with you: and my people shall not be ashamed for ever. [27] And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and that there is none else beside me; and my people shall no more be ashamed for ever.
[28] And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. [29] And on my servants and on my handmaids in those days will I pour out of my Spirit. [30] And I will shew wonders in heaven, and upon the earth, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. [31] The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord come.
[32] And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved: for in mount Sion and in Jerusalem shall the saved one be as the Lord has said, and they that have glad tidings preached to them, whom the Lord has called.
Chapter 3
[1] For, behold, in those days and at that time, when I shall have turned the captivity of Juda and Jerusalem, [2] I will also gather all the Gentiles, and bring them down to the valley of Josaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and my heritage Israel, who have been dispersed among the Gentiles; and these Gentiles have divided my land, [3] and cast lots over my people, and have given their boys to harlots, and sold their girls for wine, and have drunk.
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4] And what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all Galilee of the Gentiles? do ye render me a recompense? or do ye bear malice against me? quickly and speedily will I return your recompense on your own heads: [5] because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and ye have brought my choice ornaments into your temples; [6] and ye have sold the children of Juda and the children of Jerusalem to the children of the Greeks, that ye might expel them from their coasts. [7] Therefore, behold, I will raise them up out of the place whither ye have sold them, and I will return your recompense on your own heads. [8] And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Juda, and they shall sell them into captivity to a far distant nation: for the Lord has spoken it.
[9] Proclaim these things among the Gentiles; declare war, arouse the warriors, draw near and go up, all ye men of war. [10] Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your sickles into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. [11] Gather yourselves together, and go in, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves there; let the timid become a warrior. [12] Let them be aroused, let all the nations go up to the valley of Josaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the Gentiles round about.
[13] Bring forth the sickles, for the vintage is come: go in, tread the grapes, for the press is full: cause the vats to overflow; for their wickedness is multiplied. [14] Noises have resounded in the valley of judgment: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of judgment. [15] The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their light.
[16] And the Lord shall cry out of Sion, and shall utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heaven and the earth shall be shaken, but the Lord shall spare his people, and shall strengthen the children of Israel. [17] And ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwell in Sion my holy mountain: and Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall not pass through her anymore.
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