"Return to Me and I will return to you."

27 Elul 5771

Yoel - Chapter 2

1. Sound a shophar in Zion and sound an alarm in My holy mountain; all the inhabitants of the land shall quake, for the day of the Lord has come, for it is near.

2. A day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and thick darkness, like the dawn spread over the mountains; a numerous and mighty people, the like of which has never been, and after it there shall be no more until the years of the generations.

3. Fire consumes before it and a flame blazes after it; before it, the land was like the Garden of Eden, and in its wake is a desert wasteland; neither does it have a remnant.

4. Like the appearance of horses is its appearance, and like horsemen, so do they run.

5. Like the sound of chariots on the mountaintops, they leap, like the sound of a flame of fire consuming stubble, like a mighty people arrayed for battle.

6. Peoples quake from before it; all faces gather blackness.

7. Like mighty men they run, like men of war they scale the wall; each one goes in his ways, and they do not make their ways crooked.

8. And no one pushes his neighbor, each one goes in his path. They rest upon the swords and do not receive monetary gain.

9. In the city they clatter; they run on the wall; they go up into the houses; through the windows they come like a thief.

10. Before it the earth quakes, the heavens tremble; the sun and moon darken, and the stars withdraw their shining.

11. And the Lord gave forth His voice before His army, for His camp is great, for he who performs His word is mighty, for the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can abide it?

12. And even now, says the Lord, return 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 return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and He repents of the evil.
14. Whoever knows shall repent and regret, and it shall leave after it a blessing, a meal offering and a libation to the Lord your God.

15. Sound a shophar in Zion; proclaim a fast, call an assembly.

16. Gather the people, prepare the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the infants and thesucklings; let a bridegroom come out of his chamber and a bride from her canopy.

17. Between the porch and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep, and let them say, "O Lord, have pity on Your people, and do not make Your heritage a derision, for nations to make them an example. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?' "

18. And the Lord was zealous for His land, and He pitied His people.

19. And the Lord replied and said to His people: Behold I send you the corn, the must, and the oil, and you shall be sated by it, and I will no longer make you a derision among the nations.

20. And the northerner I will distance from you, and I will drive him to a land barren and desolate; its face to the eastern sea and its end to the western sea, and its stench shall ascend and its ill savor shall ascend, for it did great things.

21. Have no fear, O land; rejoice and jubilate, for the Lord has performed great things.

22. Fear not, O beasts of the field, for the dwelling places of the wilderness have become covered with grass, for the trees have borne their fruit, the fig tree and the vine have given forth their strength.

23. And the children of Zion, rejoice and jubilate with the Lord your God, for He gave you the teacher for justification, and He brought down for you rain, the early rain and the late rain in the first month.

24. And the granaries shall be filled with grain, and the vats shall roar with must and oil.

25. And I will repay you for the years that the increasing locust, the nibbling locust, the finishing locust, and the shearing locust have devoured-My great army, which I have sent against you.

26. And you shall eat, eating and being sated, and you shall praise the Name of the Lord your God, Who has performed wonders with you, and My people shall never be ashamed.

27. And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and I am the Lord your God, there is no other; and My people shall never be ashamed.