The Scroll of Joel
Things will get bad!
For the day of the LORD is coming,
and it shall be a destruction from the Almighty.
§
Blow the trumpet,
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 just around the corner;
Before them, a devouring fire;
and behind them, a burning flame:
the land is as the garden of Eden before them,
and behind them a desolate wilderness;
indeed, nothing shall escape them.
Like horses and horsemen is their appearance,
They shall leap, they shall make the noise of chariots,
and there is the sound of flames of fire
which consumes the stubble
as a strong army set in battle array.
The people are terrified at their approach,
their faces turn to blackness.
They run like mighty heroes;
they climb walls like men of war;
they dash to and fro in the city:
they scale houses, they run over roofs,
they enter in at the windows like a thief.
The earth quakes before them;
the heavens tremble;
the sun and moon go dark,
and the stars withdraw their shining:
And Yahweh roars aloud at the head of this army.
The day of the LORD is terrible; who can abide it?
Therefore, says the Volcano,
come back to me; soften your heart,
change your ways, with earnest care:
Rend your heart, not your garments,
return unto your god Yahweh:
for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
and of great kindness,
and he will repent of his evil.
Blow the trumpet, call an assembly:
Yahweh has become roused to compassion;
indeed, he says: I will send you corn, and wine, and oil,
and you shall be satisfied;
I will no more cause you to be a reproach to the world.
Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice:
for the Volcano will do great things.
Be not afraid, you beasts of the field:
for the pastures of the wilderness spring to life,
the tree bears her fruit,
the fig tree and the vine now yield their strength.
Be glad then, you wayfarers of the caravan
and rejoice in Yahweh God:
for he will give you rain in abundance
and your silos shall burst with wheat,
and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
§
Then, it will come to pass afterward,
I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
your young men shall see visions:
And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
flames of fire, and pillars of smoke.
Before the great and the terrible day of the LORD comes,
the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood.
And it shall come to pass in that day,
that the mountains shall drop down new wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the rivers with water;
and a fountain of liquid ambrosia shall spring forth,
and it shall fill the Grand Canyon up to the rim.
The Book of the Vision of Nahum.
God is jealous, and Yahweh revenges;
Yahweh revenges, and is furious;
Yahweh will take vengeance on his adversaries,
and he reserves wrath for his enemies.
Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power,
and will not at all acquit the wicked:
Yahweh travels in the whirlwind and in the storm,
and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry,
and dries up all the rivers.
The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt,
and the earth is burned at his presence.
Who can stand before his indignation?
and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?
his fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by him.
For those that trust in him, Yahweh is good;
he is a stronghold in the day of trouble.
But for his enemies, he is darkness;
an overrunning flood:
he will make an utter end of the place.
Those who imagine fighting Yahweh, he annihilates:
they do not get a second chance to attack him.
His adversaries stumble as drunkards;
they get burnt up like thorns and stubble.
§
Bloody city of crime,
full of lies and robbery!
City of violence,
where the killing never stops!
Behold, I am against you,
says the Lord Yahweh God;
I will lift your skirts over your face,
I will shew the nations your nakedness,
and the kingdoms your shame.
I will cast abominable filth upon you,
and make you vile;
I will set you as a gazingstock.
Whoever looks upon you shall flee from you.
None will bemoan you.
None will comfort you.
Obadiah, to the Arrogant Empire:
The pride of your heart has deceived you,
you that dwell in the clefts of the rock,
whose habitation is high;
you say in your heart:
“Who shall bring me down to the ground?”
Though you exalt yourself as the eagle,
and though you set your nest among the stars,
from there will I bring you down,
says the Volcano.
The Burden that
Habakkuk the Prophet Saw
O Yahweh, how long shall I cry, and you will not listen!
I shout: “Help! violence!” yet you will not save!
Why do you show me atrocities,
and cause me to behold horrors?
for spoiling and killings are before me:
ongoing strife, nonstop contention.
It is plain to see, justice has malfunctioned,
Decency and integrity never appear:
for the wicked ones compass about the righteous;
only wrong judgment proceeds.
2
I will stand upon my watch,
and take my station at the tower,
and will wait to see what he will say to me,
and what he shall answer to my reproof.
Then Yahweh answered me, and said:
Write this vision, and make it plain
so that one may read it with ease.
Woe to him that builds a town with bloodshed,
and establishes a city in depravity and crime!
So that the workforce toils without pay
and laborers weary themselves for nothing.
Those whom you defrauded
shall rise up suddenly to bite you.
The destruction of beasts shall overwhelm you.
Your presumed stronghold shall prove your weakness.
Because you have spoiled many nations,
all the remnant of the people shall spoil you;
for the innocent blood you have shed,
and for the violence of the land.
3
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet
God came from behind the red hills,
and the Holy One from his holy mount.
His glory covered the heavens,
and the earth was full of his praise.
And his brightness was as the light;
he had rays beaming out of his hands:
therein was his power concentrated.
Before him went plumes of flame,
and burning coals went forth at his feet.
As he walked, it shook the earth:
as he stomped, the nations quaked;
and the everlasting mountains were scattered,
the perpetual hills did bow:
his ways are everlasting.
Was Yahweh displeased against the rivers?
Was your anger against the ocean?
Was your wrath against the sea?
Is that why you are riding upon your horses
and your chariots of salvation?
The mountains saw you, and they trembled:
the torrential water cascaded:
the deep uttered his voice, and threw up his hands.
The sun and moon stood still, on high,
bewildered by your arrow-beams of light,
and by the shining of your glittering spear.
You marched through the land in fury,
you threshed the earth in anger.
You went forth to deliver the innocent,
and to save all peace-loving people;
You demolished the oppressor’s house;
obliterating it from roof to foundation.
You crushed his skull with your cudgel.
Then, intending to devour the poor secretly,
select committees of moguls advanced:
but you scattered them with your whirlwind.
You sent your stallions galloping over the sea,
frothing up the great waters.
When I heard, my belly quaked;
my lips quivered at the voice:
fear struck me to the bone,
and I trembled in myself.
Yet I will rejoice in my Savior;
the Lord Yahweh is my strength:
he makes my feet like deer’s feet,
and helps me to walk upon high places.
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