Day 350 of 365

Joel 2:1–3:21

2:1 Blow 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 comes, for it is close at hand:

2:2 A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn spreading on the mountains, a great and strong people; there has never been the like, neither will there be any more after them, even to the years of many generations.

2:3 A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.

2:4 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and as horsemen, so do they run.

2:5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

2:6 At their presence the peoples are in anguish. All faces have grown pale.

2:7 They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like warriors. They each march in his line, and they do not swerve off course.

2:8 Neither does one jostle another; they march everyone in his path, and they burst through the defenses, and do not break ranks.

2:9 They rush on the city. They run on the wall. They climb up into the houses. They enter in at the windows like thieves.

2:10 The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

2:11 The Lord thunders his voice before his army; for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of the Lord is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?

2:12 "Yet even now," says the Lord, "turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning."

2:13 Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.

2:14 Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering to the Lord, your God.

2:15 Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly.

2:16 Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children, and those who suck the breasts. Let the bridegroom go forth from his room, and the bride out of her chamber.

2:17 Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, "Spare your people, Lord, and do not give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

2:18 Then the Lord was jealous for his land, And had pity on his people.

2:19 The Lord answered his people, "Behold, I will send you grain, new wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied with them; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

2:20 But I will remove the northern army far away from you, and will drive it into a barren and desolate land, its front into the eastern sea, and its back into the western sea; and its stench will come up, and its bad smell will rise." Surely he has done great things.

2:21 Land, do not be afraid. Be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things.

2:22 Do not be afraid, you animals of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness spring up, for the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.

2:23 "Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord, your God; for he gives you the former rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain, as before.

2:24 The threshing floors will be full of wheat, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

2:25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you.

2:26 You will have plenty to eat, and be satisfied, and will praise the name of the Lord, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and my people will never again be disappointed.

2:27 You will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord, your God, and there is no one else; and my people will never again be disappointed.

2:28 "It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.

2:29 And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit.

2:30 I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.

2:31 The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.

2:32 It will happen that whoever will call on the name of the Lord shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the remnant, those whom the Lord calls.

3:1 "For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

3:2 I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land,

3:3 and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

3:4 "Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you repay me? And if you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head.

3:5 Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest treasures into your temples,

3:6 and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border.

3:7 Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head;

3:8 and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for the Lord has spoken it."

3:9 Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up.

3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'

3:11 Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together." Cause your mighty ones to come down there, Lord.

3:12 "Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

3:13 Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winepress is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great."

3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near, in the valley of decision.

3:15 The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

3:16 The Lord will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but the Lord will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.

3:17 "So you will know that I am the Lord, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.

3:18 It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters, and a fountain will come forth from the house of the Lord, and will water the valley of Shittim.

3:19 Egypt will be a desolation, and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

3:20 But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

3:21 I will cleanse their blood, that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwells in Zion."

Rev 8:1–13

1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

2 I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

3 Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar which was before the throne.

4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand.

5 The angel took the censer, and he filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it on the earth. There followed thunders, sounds, lightnings, and an earthquake.

6 The seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

7 The first sounded, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. One third of the earth was burnt up, and one third of the trees were burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

8 The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. One third of the sea became blood,

9 and one third of the living creatures which were in the sea died. One third of the ships were destroyed.

10 The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch, and it fell on one third of the rivers, and on the springs of the waters.

11 The name of the star is called "Wormwood." One third of the waters became wormwood. Many people died from the waters, because they were made bitter.

12 The fourth angel sounded, and one third of the sun was struck, and one third of the moon, and one third of the stars; so that one third of them would be darkened, and the day would not shine for one third of it, and the night in the same way.

13 I saw, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe! Woe! Woe for those who dwell on the earth, because of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels, who are yet to sound!"

Job 39:1–13

1 "Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?

2 Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they give birth?

3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young, they end their labor pains.

4 Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go forth, and do not return again.

5 "Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey,

6 Whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place?

7 He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shouting of the driver.

8 The range of the mountains is his pasture, He searches after every green thing.

9 "Will the wild ox be content to serve you? Or will he stay by your feeding trough?

10 Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you?

11 Will you trust him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave to him your labor?

12 Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed, and gather the grain of your threshing floor?

13 "The wings of the ostrich wave proudly; but are they the feathers and plumage of love?