King James Version · The Persian return
Joel 2
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Blow ye the in , and sound an alarm in my mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick , as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as before them, and behind them a desolate ; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like ; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon , they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: And shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for is great and very terrible; and who can it? Therefore also now, saith , turn ye even to me with all , and with , and with weeping, and with : And rend , and not your garments, and turn unto your : for he is and merciful, , and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and , and leave a behind him; even a meat and a drink unto your ? Blow the in , a , call a solemn : Gather the people, , assemble the , gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the go forth of his chamber, and the out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of , weep between the porch and the , and let them say, Spare thy people, O , and give not thine heritage to , that the heathen should them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their ? Then will be his land, and his people. Yea, will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and , and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a among the heathen: But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land and desolate, with toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things. Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for will do great things. Be not afraid, ye of the field: for the pastures of do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of , and rejoice in your : for he hath given you the former moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the , the former , and the in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and the name of your , that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be . And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am your , and none else: and my people shall never be . And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out upon ; and your sons and your daughters shall , your old men shall , your young men shall see : And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out . And I will shew wonders in and in the earth, , and , and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into , and the moon into , before the great and the terrible come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall of shall be : for in mount and in shall be , as hath said, and in whom shall call.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The Persian return, 539 BC to 332 BC ›
Persia takes Babylon and reverses its policy, sending exiled peoples home to rebuild their temples. Judah returns as a small province, rebuilding under imperial permission rather than independence.
- Persia
- The largest empire the world had yet seen, from the Indus to the Aegean, run through provinces, a royal road, and a postal system. Its policy on conquered peoples was to send them home and fund their temples, in exchange for loyalty and prayers for the king. The Cyrus Cylinder states the policy in Cyrus's own words, and Ezra opens with the same policy applied to Judah.
- Judah
- A small, poor province called Yehud, a fraction of the old kingdom, with a rebuilt temple that made the people who remembered the first one weep. No king, and no prospect of one. Leadership passes to priests and scribes, which shapes everything afterward.
- Greece
- Persia and Greece collide at Marathon and Salamis, Persia loses, and Athens spends the following decades on the Parthenon, tragedy, and Socrates. Herodotus writes the first history in order to explain that war. Then Plato and Aristotle, whose vocabulary the church will still be using at Nicaea eight centuries later.
- Further afield
- Rome throws out its kings and becomes a republic. In India and China this is the age of the Buddha's early followers and of Confucian teaching taking hold. More of what the world still thinks with was invented in this era than in almost any other.