The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 584

2:7. They shall run like valiant men: like men of war they shall scale the wall: the men shall march every one on his way, and they shall not turn aside from their ranks.

2:8. No one shall press upon his brother: they shall walk every one in his path: yea, and they shall fall through the windows, and shall take no harm.

2:9. They shall enter into the city: they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up the houses, they shall come in at the windows, as a thief.

2:10. At their presence the earth hath trembled, the heavens are moved: the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their s.h.i.+ning.

2:11. And the Lord hath uttered his voice before the face of his army: for his armies are exceedingly great, for they are strong, and execute his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible: and who can stand it?

2:12. Now, therefore, saith the Lord. Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and mourning.

2:13. And rend your hearts, and not your garments and turn to the Lord your G.o.d: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil.

2:14. Who knoweth but he will return, and forgive, and leave a blessing behind him, sacrifice and libation to the Lord your G.o.d?

2:15. Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn a.s.sembly,

2:16. Gather together the people, sanctify the church, a.s.semble the ancients, gather together the little ones, and them that suck at the b.r.e.a.s.t.s: let the bridegroom go forth from his bed, and the bride out of her bridal chamber.

2:17. Between the porch and the altar the priests, the Lord's ministers, shall weep, and shall say: Spare, O Lord, spare thy people: and give not thy inheritane to reproach, that the heathens should rule over them. Why should they say among the nations: Where is their G.o.d?

2:18. The Lord hath been zealons for his land, and hath spared his people.

2:19 And the Lord answered, and said to his people: Behold I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and you shall be filled with them: and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

2:20. And I will remove far off from you the northern enemy: and I will drive him into a land unpa.s.sable, and desert, with his face towards the east sea, and his hinder part towards the utmost sea: and his stench shall ascend, and his rottenness shall go up, because he hath done proudly.

The northern enemy... Some understand this of Holofernes and his army: others, of the locusts.

2:21. Fear not, O land, be glad, and rejoice: for the Lord hath done great things.

2:22. Fear not, ye beasts of the fields: for the beautiful places of the wilderness are sprung, for the tree hath brought forth its fruit, the fig tree, and the vine have yielded their strength.

2:23. And you, O children of Sion, rejoice, and be joyful in the Lord your G.o.d: because he hath given you a teacher of justice, and he will make the early and the latter rain to come down to you as in the beginning.

2:24. And the floors shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall overfiow with wine, and oil.

2:25. And I will restore to you the years which the locust, and the bruchus, and the mildew, and the palmerworm hath eaten; my great host which I sent upon you.

2:26. And you shall eat in plenty, and shall be filled and you shall praise the name of the Lord your G.o.d; who hath done wonders with you, and my people shall not be confounded for ever.

2:27. And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: and I am the Lord yonr G.o.d, and there is none besides: and my people shall not be confounded forever.

2:28. And it shall come to pa.s.s after this, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.

2:29. Moreover, upon my servants and handmaids in those days I will pour forth my spirit.

2:30. And I will shew wonders in heaven; and in earth, blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke.

2:31. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood: before the great and dreadful day of the Lord doth come.

2:32. And it shall come to pa.s.s, that every one that shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved: for in Mount Sion, and in Jerusalem shall be salvation, as the Lord hath said, and in the residue whom the Lord shall call.

Joel Chapter 3

3:1. For behold in those days, and in that time when I shall bring back the captivity of Juda, and Jerusalem:

3:2. I will gather together all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Josaphat: and I will plead with them there for my people, and for my inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and have parted my land.

3:3. And they have cast lots upon my people: and the boy they have put in the stews, and the girl they have sold for wine, that they might drink.

3:4. But what have you to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the coast of the Philistines? will you revenge yourselves on me? and if you revenge yourselves on me, I will very soon return you a recompense upon your own head.

3:5. For you have taken away my silver, and my gold: and my desirable, and most beantiful things you have carried into your temples.

3:6. And the children of Juda, and the children of Jerusalem, you have sold to the children of the Greeks, that you might remove them far off from their own country.

3:7. Behold, I will raise them up out of the place wherein you have sold them: and I will return your recompense upon your own heads.

3:8. And I will sell yonr sons, and your daughters, by the hands of the children of Juda, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far off, for the Lord hath spoken it.

3:9. Proclaim ye this among the nations: Prepare war, raise up the strong: let them come, let all the men of war come up.

3:10. Cut your ploughshares into swords, and your spades into spears.

Let the weak say: I am strong.

3:11. Break forth, and come, all ye nations from round about, and gather yourselves together: there will the Lord cause all thy strong ones to fall down.

3:12. Let them arise, and let the nations come up into the valley of Josaphat: for there I will sit to judge all nations round about.

3:13. Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe: come and go down, for the press is full, the fats run over: for their wickedness is multiplied.

3:14. Nations, nations in the valley of destruction: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of destruction.

3:15. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their s.h.i.+ning.

3:16. And the Lord shall roar out of Sion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth shall be moved, and the Lord shall be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

3:17. And you shall know that I am the Lord your G.o.d, dwelling in Sion, my holy monntain: and Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall pa.s.s through it no more.

3:18. And it shall come to pa.s.s in that day, that the mountains shall drop down sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk: and waters shall flow through all the rivers of Juda: and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the torrent of thorns.

A fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, etc... Viz., the fountain of grace in the church militant, and of glory in the church triumphant: which shall water the torrent or valley of thorns, that is, the souls that before, like barren ground brought forth nothing but thorns; or that were afflicted with the thorns of crosses and tribulations.

3:19. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a wilderness destroyed: because they have done unjustly against the children of Juda, and have shed innocent blood in their land.

3:20. And Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to generation and generation.

Judea--and Jerusalem... That is, the spiritual Jerusalem, viz., the church of Christ.