Joel 2:12-17

“Even now,” says the LORD, “Turn and come to Me with all your heart [in genuine repentance], With fasting and weeping and mourning [until every barrier is removed and the broken fellowship is restored]; Rip your heart to pieces [in sorrow and contrition] and not your garments.” Now return [in repentance] to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness [faithful to His covenant with His people]; And He relents [His sentence of] evil [when His people genuinely repent]. Who knows whether He will relent [and revoke your sentence], And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering [from the bounty He provides you] For the LORD your God? Blow a trumpet in Zion [warning of impending judgment], Dedicate a fast [as a day of restraint and humility], call a solemn assembly. Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room And the bride out of her bridal chamber. [No one is excused from the assembly.] Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, “Have compassion and spare Your people, O LORD, And do not make Your inheritance (Israel) an object of ridicule, Or a [humiliating] byword among the [Gentile] nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ”

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