Joel 2:28-3:21 New King James Version (NKJV)

God’s Spirit Poured Out

28 “And it shall come to pass afterwardThat I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,Your old men shall dream dreams,Your young men shall see visions.29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservantsI will pour out My Spirit in those days.

30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.31 The sun shall be turned into darkness,And the moon into blood,Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.32 And it shall come to passThat whoever calls on the name of the LordShall be [1]saved.For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be [2]deliverance,As the Lord has said,Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.

God Judges the Nations

3 “For behold, in those days and at that time,When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,2 I will also gather all nations,And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;And I will enter into judgment with them thereOn account of My people, My heritage Israel,Whom they have scattered among the nations;They have also divided up My land.3 They have cast lots for My people,Have given a boy as payment for a harlot,And sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

4 “Indeed, what have you to do with Me,O Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Philistia?Will you [3]retaliate against Me?But if you [4]retaliate against Me,Swiftly and speedily I will return your [5]retaliation upon your own head;5 Because you have taken My silver and My gold,And have carried into your temples My [6]prized possessions.6 Also the people of Judah and the people of JerusalemYou have sold to the Greeks,That you may remove them far from their borders.

7 “Behold, I will raise themOut of the place to which you have sold them,And will return your [7]retaliation upon your own head.8 I will sell your sons and your daughtersInto the hand of the people of Judah,And they will sell them to the Sabeans,[8]To a people far off;For the Lord has spoken.”

9 Proclaim this among the nations:“Prepare for war!Wake up the mighty men,Let all the men of war draw near,Let them come up.10 Beat your plowshares into swordsAnd your [9]pruning hooks into spears;Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ”11 Assemble and come, all you nations,And gather together all around.Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O Lord.

12 “Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.Come, go down;For the winepress is full,The vats overflow—For their wickedness is great.”

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.15 The sun and moon will grow dark,And the stars will diminish their brightness.16 The Lord also will roar from Zion,And utter His voice from Jerusalem;The heavens and earth will shake;But the Lord will be a shelter for His people,And the strength of the children of Israel.

17 “So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,Dwelling in Zion My holy mountain.Then Jerusalem shall be holy,And no aliens shall ever pass through her again.”

God Blesses His People

18 And it will come to pass in that dayThat the mountains shall drip with new wine,The hills shall flow with milk,And all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water;A fountain shall flow from the house of the LordAnd water the Valley of [10]Acacias.

19 “Egypt shall be a desolation,And Edom a desolate wilderness,Because of violence against the people of Judah,For they have shed innocent blood in their land.20 But Judah shall abide forever,And Jerusalem from generation to generation.21 For I will acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted;For the Lord dwells in Zion.”

Footnotes:

Joel 2:32 Or delivered

Joel 2:32 Or salvation

Joel 3:4 Or render Me repayment

Joel 3:4 Or repay Me

Joel 3:4 Or repayment

Joel 3:5 Li

James 1:19-27 New King James Version (NKJV)

Qualities Needed in Trials

19 [1]So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Doers—Not Hearers Only

21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and [2]overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

26 If anyone [3]among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Footnotes:

James 1:19 NU Know this or This you know

James 1:21 abundance

James 1:26 NU omits among you

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Joel 2:1-27 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Day of the Lord

2 Blow the [1]trumpet in Zion,And sound an alarm in My holy mountain!Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble;For the day of the Lord is coming,For it is at hand:2 A day of darkness and gloominess,A day of clouds and thick darkness,Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.A people come, great and strong,The like of whom has never been;Nor will there ever be any such after them,Even for many successive generations.

3 A fire devours before them,And behind them a flame burns;The land is like the Garden of Eden before them,And behind them a desolate wilderness;Surely nothing shall escape them.4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;And like [2]swift steeds, so they run.5 With a noise like chariotsOver mountaintops they leap,Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble,Like a strong people set in battle array.

6 Before them the people writhe in pain;All faces [3]are drained of color.7 They run like mighty men,They climb the wall like men of war;Every one marches in formation,And they do not break ranks.8 They do not push one another;Every one marches in his own [4]column.Though they lunge between the weapons,They are not [5]cut down.9 They run to and fro in the city,They run on the wall;They climb into the houses,They enter at the windows like a thief.

10 The earth quakes before them,The heavens tremble;The sun and moon grow dark,And the stars diminish their brightness.11 The Lord gives voice before His army,For His camp is very great;For strong is the One who executes His word.For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible;Who can endure it?

A Call to Repentance

12 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord,“Turn to Me with all your heart,With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”13 So rend your heart, and not your garments;Return to the Lord your God,For He is gracious and merciful,Slow to anger, and of great kindness;And He relents from doing harm.14 Who knows if He will turn and relent,And leave a blessing behind Him—A grain offering and a drink offeringFor the Lord your God?

15 Blow the [6]trumpet in Zion,Consecrate a fast,Call a sacred assembly;16 Gather the people,Sanctify the congregation,Assemble the elders,Gather the children and nursing babes;Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber,And the bride from her dressing room.17 Let the priests, who minister to the Lord,Weep between the porch and the altar;Let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord,And do not give Your heritage to reproach,That the nations should [7]rule over them.Why should they say among the peoples,‘Where is their God?’ ”

The Land Refreshed

18 Then the Lord will be zealous for His land,And pity His people.19 The Lord will answer and say to His people,“Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil,And you will be satisfied by them;I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.

20 “But I will remove far from you the northern army,And will drive him away into a barren and desolate land,With his face toward the eastern seaAnd his back toward the western sea;His stench will come up,And his foul odor will rise,Because he has done [8]monstrous things.”

21 Fear not, O land;Be glad and rejoice,For the Lord has done [9]marvelous things!22 Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field;For the open pastures are springing up,And the tree bears its fruit;The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.23 Be glad then, you children of Zion,And rejoice in the Lord your God;For He has given you the [10]former rain faithfully,And He will cause the rain to come down for you—The former rain,And the latter rain in the first month.24 The threshing floors shall be full of wheat,And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.

25 “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming [11]locust has eaten,The crawling locust,The consuming locust,And the chewing locust,My great army which I sent among you.26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,And praise

James 1:9-18 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Perspective of Rich and Poor

9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, 10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. 11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

Loving God Under Trials

12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

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Joel 1 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Locust Plague in Judah

1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

The Land Laid Waste

2 Hear this, you elders,And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!Has anything like this happened in your days,Or even in the days of your fathers?3 Tell your children about it,Let your children tell their children,And their children another generation.

4 What the chewing [1]locust left, the swarming locust has eaten;What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.

5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep;And wail, all you drinkers of wine,Because of the new wine,For it has been cut off from your mouth.6 For a nation has come up against My land,Strong, and without number;His teeth are the teeth of a lion,And he has the fangs of a [2]fierce lion.7 He has laid waste My vine,And [3]ruined My fig tree;He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;Its branches are made white.

8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackclothFor the husband of her youth.9 The grain offering and the drink offeringHave been cut off from the house of the Lord;The priests mourn, who minister to the Lord.10 The field is wasted,The land mourns;For the grain is ruined,The new wine is dried up,The oil fails.

11 Be ashamed, you farmers,Wail, you vinedressers,For the wheat and the barley;Because the harvest of the field has perished.12 The vine has dried up,And the fig tree has withered;The pomegranate tree,The palm tree also,And the apple tree—All the trees of the field are withered;Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men.

Mourning for the Land

13 Gird yourselves and lament, you priests;Wail, you who minister before the altar;Come, lie all night in sackcloth,You who minister to my God;For the grain offering and the drink offeringAre withheld from the house of your God.14 Consecrate a fast,Call a sacred assembly;Gather the eldersAnd all the inhabitants of the landInto the house of the Lord your God,And cry out to the Lord.

15 Alas for the day!For the day of the Lord is at hand;It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes,Joy and gladness from the house of our God?17 The seed shrivels under the clods,Storehouses are in shambles;Barns are broken down,For the grain has withered.18 How the animals groan!The herds of cattle are restless,Because they have no pasture;Even the flocks of sheep [4]suffer punishment.

19 O Lord, to You I cry out;For fire has devoured the [5]open pastures,And a flame has burned all the trees of the field.20 The beasts of the field also cry out to You,For the water brooks are dried up,And fire has devoured the [6]open pastures.

Footnotes:

Joel 1:4 Exact identity of these locusts unknown

Joel 1:6 Or lioness

Joel 1:7 Or splintered

Joel 1:18 LXX, Vg. are made desolate

Joel 1:19 Lit. pastures of the wilderness

Joel 1:20 Lit. pastures of the wilderness

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James 1:1-8 New King James Version (NKJV)

Greeting to the Twelve Tribes

1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad:

Greetings.

Profiting from Trials

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces [1]patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be [2]perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Footnotes:

James 1:3 endurance or perseverance

James 1:4 mature

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Psalm 24 New King James Version (NKJV)

The King of Glory and His Kingdom

A Psalm of David.

24 The earth is the Lord‘s, and all its fullness,The world and those who dwell therein.2 For He has founded it upon the seas,And established it upon the [1]waters.

3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?Or who may stand in His holy place?4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,Nor sworn deceitfully.5 He shall receive blessing from the Lord,And righteousness from the God of his salvation.6 This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,Who seek Your face. Selah

7 Lift up your heads, O you gates!And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!And the King of glory shall come in.8 Who is this King of glory?The Lord strong and mighty,The Lord mighty in battle.9 Lift up your heads, O you gates!Lift up, you everlasting doors!And the King of glory shall come in.10 Who is this King of glory?The Lord of hosts,He is the King of glory. Selah

Footnotes:

Psalm 24:2 Lit. rivers

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Psalm 23 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Lord the Shepherd of His People

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd;I shall not [1]want.2 He makes me to lie down in [2]green pastures;He leads me beside the [3]still waters.3 He restores my soul;He leads me in the paths of righteousnessFor His name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil;For You are with me;Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;You anoint my head with oil;My cup runs over.6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow meAll the days of my life;And I will [4]dwell in the house of the Lord[5]Forever.

Footnotes:

Psalm 23:1 lack

Psalm 23:2 Lit. pastures of tender grass

Psalm 23:2 Lit. waters of rest

Psalm 23:6 So with LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg.; MT return

Psalm 23:6 Or To the end of my days, lit. For length of days

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Psalm 22 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Suffering, Praise, and Posterity of the Messiah

To the Chief Musician. Set to [1]“The Deer of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David.

22 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?Why are You so far from helping Me,And from the words of My groaning?2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;And in the night season, and am not silent.

3 But You are holy,Enthroned in the praises of Israel.4 Our fathers trusted in You;They trusted, and You delivered them.5 They cried to You, and were delivered;They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.

6 But I am a worm, and no man;A reproach of men, and despised by the people.7 All those who see Me ridicule Me;They [2]shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,8 “He [3]trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him;Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”

9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb;You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.10 I was cast upon You from birth.From My mother’s wombYou have been My God.11 Be not far from Me,For trouble is near;For there is none to help.

12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.13 They [4]gape at Me with their mouths,Like a raging and roaring lion.

14 I am poured out like water,And all My bones are out of joint;My heart is like wax;It has melted [5]within Me.15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,And My tongue clings to My jaws;You have brought Me to the dust of death.

16 For dogs have surrounded Me;The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.They[6] pierced My hands and My feet;17 I can count all My bones.They look and stare at Me.18 They divide My garments among them,And for My clothing they cast lots.

19 But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me;O My Strength, hasten to help Me!20 Deliver Me from the sword,My[7] precious life from the power of the dog.21 Save Me from the lion’s mouthAnd from the horns of the wild oxen!

You have answered Me.

22 I will declare Your name to My brethren;In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him!All you [8]descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;Nor has He hidden His face from Him;But when He cried to Him, He heard.

25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly;I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;Those who seek Him will praise the Lord.Let your heart live forever!

27 All the ends of the worldShall remember and turn to the Lord,And all the families of the [9]nationsShall worship before [10]You.28 For the kingdom is the Lord‘s,And He rules over the nations.

29 All the prosperous of the earthShall eat and worship;All those who go down to [11]the dustShall bow before Him,Even he who cannot keep himself alive.

30 A posterity shall serve Him.It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born,That He has done this.

Footnotes:

Psalm 22:1 Heb. Aijeleth Hashahar

Psalm 22:7 Show contempt with their mouth

Psalm 22:8 LXX, Syr., Vg. hoped; Tg. praised

Psalm 22:13 Lit. have opened their mouths at Me

Psalm 22:14 Lit. in the midst of My bowels

Psalm 22:16 So with some Heb. mss., LXX, Syr., Vg.; MT Like a lion instead of They pierced

Psalm 22:20 Lit. My only one

Psalm 22:23 Lit. seed

Psalm 22:27 Gentiles

Psalm 22:27 So with MT, LXX, Tg.; Arab., Syr., Vg. Him

Psalm 22:29 Death

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Philippians 4:10-23 New King James Version (NKJV)

Philippian Generosity

10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your[1] care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to [2]be abased, and I know how to [3]abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through [4]Christ who strengthens me.

14 Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress. 15 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. 16 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. 18 Indeed I [5]have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. 19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Greeting and Blessing

21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. 22 All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar’s household.

23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with [6]you all. Amen.

Footnotes:

Philippians 4:10 you have revived your care

Philippians 4:12 live humbly

Philippians 4:12 live in prosperity

Philippians 4:13 NU Him who

Philippians 4:18 Or have received all

Philippians 4:23 NU your spirit

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