c 9:3 "Unclean" refers to anything that Moses' Teachings say is not presentable to God.

a 10:6 Or "to King Jareb."

b 10:11 Threshing is the process of beating stalks to separate them from the grain.

c 10:11 A yoke is a wooden bar placed over the necks of work animals so that they can pull a 11:2 Greek; Masoretic Text "The more they called them."

b 11:3 Or "I was the one who guided Ephraim."

c 11:4 A yoke is a wooden bar placed over the necks of work animals so that they can pull d 11:11 Hosea 11:12 in English Bibles is Hosea 12:1 in the Hebrew Bible.

a 12:1 Hosea 12:1-14 in English Bibles is Hosea 12:2-15 in the Hebrew Bible.

b 12:10 Or "I brought destruction through the prophets."

a 13:3 A threshing floor is an outdoor area where grain is separated from its husks.

b 13:5 Greek; Masoretic Text "I knew you."

c 13:14 Or "Death, where is your plague? Grave, where is your destruction?"

d 13:15 Hosea 13:16 in English Bibles is Hosea 14:1 in the Hebrew Bible.

a 14:1 Hosea 14:1-9 in English Bibles is Hosea 14:2-10 in the Hebrew Bible.

Introduction to JOEL.

Most of the Old Testament prophets spoke God's words to specific people at particular times. For example, Hosea prophesied in Israel in the decades just before Assyria invaded and destroyed it, and Jeremiah prophesied in Judah during the years leading up to Babylon's destruction of Jerusalem. To understand their prophecies, we need to know something about their history. By contrast, Joel seems to call out to all of God's people, wherever and whenever they may live. He gives few clues to his historical situation, because his message is timeless and universal: the day of the Lord is near.

In the Old Testament, the day of the Lord means a time of God's judgment, and in the book of Joel, Judah has been hit by famine, fire, and locusts. Their food and wine, trees and seeds are gone. Their animals can find nothing to eat. The people can't even bring offerings to the temple, because they have nothing left to offer. Disaster overwhelms them like a mighty, unstoppable army. What can they do? Joel gathers the entire community in a solemn prayer service. "Tear your hearts, not your clothes," he says. "Return to Yahweh your Elohim. He is merciful and compassionate, patient, and always ready to forgive and to change his plans about disaster" (2:13). And indeed God does restore their fortunes, letting Judah and the surrounding nations know that he is a God who blesses his people.

But wait, says Joel, there's more. A day is coming when every enemy of God's people will be defeated. On that day "Yahweh will roar from Zion, and his voice will thunder from Jerusalem. The sky and the earth will shake" (3:16). This will be the final day of the Lord, the last judgment, the time when God destroys evil completely and forever.

Several hundred years after Joel's day, when the Holy Spirit fills and empowers Jesus' followers, Peter quotes from Joel's book: "'I will pour my Ruach on everyone. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. . . I will work miracles in the sky and on the earth . . . before the terrifying day of Yahweh comes.' Then whoever calls on the name of Yahweh will be saved" (2:28-32; Acts 2:16-21). God's final destruction of evil has begun. Jesus is alive, the Holy Spirit is with the believers, and God's offer of salvation is open to all!

Key Names of God in Joel Yahweh LORD Elohim God Shadday Almighty Ruach Spirit Machseh Refuge JOEL.

1 2 3.

The Prophet Joel 1 1 This is what Yahweh said to Joel, son of Pethuel.

Judah Is Plagued with Locusts and Famine 2 Listen to this, you leaders!

Open your ears, all inhabitants of this land!

Nothing like this has ever happened in your lifetime or in your ancestors' lifetime.

3 Tell your children about it.

Have your children tell their children.

Have your grandchildren tell their children.

4 What young locusts leave, mature locusts will eat.

What mature locusts leave, adult locusts will eat.

What adult locusts leave, grasshoppers will eat.

5 Wake up and cry, you drunks!

Cry loudly, you wine drinkers!

New wine has been taken away from you.

6 A strong nation attacked my land.

It has too many soldiers to count.

They have teeth like lions.

They have fangs like grown lions.

7 They destroyed my grapevines.

They ruined my fig trees.

They stripped off what they could eat, threw the rest away, and left the branches bare.

8 Cry loudly like a young woman who is dressed in sackcloth, mourning for the man she was going to marry.

9 Grain offerings and wine offerings are no longer brought to Yahweh's temple.

The priests, Yahweh's servants, mourn.

10 Israel's fields are ruined, and the ground is dried up.

The grain has been destroyed.

The new wine has dried up.

The olive oil has run out.

11 Be sad, you farmers!

Cry loudly, you grape growers!

Mourn for the wheat and the barley.

The harvest is destroyed in the field.

12 The grapevines are dried up.

The fig trees are withered.

The pomegranate, palm, and apricot trees, as well as all the trees in the orchards, have died.

Yes, the joy of these people has died too.

13 Put on your sackcloth and mourn, you priests.

Cry loudly, you servants of the altar.

Spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my Elohim.

Grain offerings and wine offerings are withheld from your Elohim's temple.

14 Schedule a time to fast!

Call for an assembly!

Gather the leaders and everyone who lives in the land.

Bring them to the temple of Yahweh your Elohim, and cry to Yahweh for help.

15 This will be a terrible day!

The day of Yahweh is near, and it will come like destruction from Shadday.

16 Food disappears right before our eyes.

Happiness and rejoicing disappear from our Elohim's temple.

17 Seeds shrivel up in their shells.a Storehouses are destroyed.

Barns are ruined.

The grain has dried up.

18 The animals groan.

Herds of cattle wander around confused.

There's no pasture for them.

Even flocks of sheep are suffering.

19 O Yahweh , I cry to you for help!

Fire has burned up the open pastures.

Flames have burned up all the trees in the orchards.

20 Even wild animals long for you.

Streams run dry.

Fire has burned up the open pastures.

The Day of the LORD 2 1 Blow the ram's horn in Zion.

Sound the alarm on my holy mountain.

Everyone who lives in the land should tremble, because the day of Yahweh is coming.

Certainly, it is near.

2 It is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and overcast skies.

A large and mighty army will spread over the mountains like the dawn.b Nothing like this has ever happened.

Nothing like this will ever happen again.

3 In front of this army a fire burns.

Behind it flames are blazing.

In front of it the land is like the garden of Eden.

Behind it the land is like a barren desert.

Nothing escapes it!

4 The soldiers look like horses.

They run like war horses.

5 As they leap on mountaintops, they sound like rattling chariots, like crackling fire burning up straw, and like a mighty army prepared for battle.