Genesis 22:9-14, Joel 1:1-2:11, Psalm 137:1-9
Genesis 22:9-14
9 They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood. 10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.
11 Hashem’s angel called to him out of the sky, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
He said, “Here I am.”
12 He said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear Elohim, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
13 Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 Abraham called the name of that place “Hashem Will Provide”. As it is said to this day, “On Hashem’s mountain, it will be provided.”
Joel 1:1-2:11
Hashem’s word that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, you elders,
and listen, all you inhabitants of the land!
Has this ever happened in your days,
or in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children about it,
and have your children tell their children,
and their children, another generation.
4 What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten.
What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten.
What the grasshopper has left, the caterpillar has eaten.
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation has come up on My land, strong, and without number.
His teeth are the teeth of a lion,
and he has the fangs of a lioness.
7 He has laid my vine waste,
and stripped My fig tree.
He has stripped its bark and thrown it away.
Its branches are made white.
8 Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth
for the husband of her youth!
9 The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off from Hashem’s house.
The priests, Hashem’s ministers, mourn.
10 The field is laid waste.
The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed,
The new wine has dried up,
and the oil languishes.
11 Be confounded, you farmers!
Wail, you vineyard keepers,
for the wheat and for the barley;
for the harvest of the field has perished.
12The vine has dried up, and the fig tree withered—
the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree,
even all of the trees of the field are withered;
for joy has withered away from the sons of men.
13 Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests!
Wail, you ministers of the altar.
Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my Elohim,
for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your Elohim’s house.
14 Sanctify a fast.
Call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Hashem your Elohim,
and cry to Hashem.
15 Alas for the day!
For the day of Hashemis at hand,
and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
16 Isn’t the food cut off before our eyes,
joy and gladness from the house of our Elohim?
17 The seeds rot under their clods.
The granaries are laid desolate.
The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.
18 How the animals groan!
The herds of livestock are perplexed because they have no pasture.
Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
19 Hashem, I cry to you,
for the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,
and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20 Yes, the animals of the field pant to You,
for the water brooks have dried up,
and the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
and sound an alarm in My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of Hashem comes,
for it is close at hand:
2 A day of darkness and gloominess,
a day of clouds and thick darkness.
As the dawn spreading on the mountains,
a great and strong people;
there has never been the like,
neither will there be any more after them,
even to the years of many generations.
3 A fire devours before them,
and behind them, a flame burns.
The land is as the garden of Eden before them,
and behind them, a desolate wilderness.
Yes, and no one has escaped them.
4 Their appearance is as the appearance of horses,
and they run as horsemen.
5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains, they leap,
like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble,
like a strong people set in battle array.
6 At their presence the peoples are in anguish.
All faces have grown pale.
7 They run like mighty men.
They climb the wall like warriors.
They each march in his line, and they don’t swerve off course.
8 One doesn’t jostle another.
They each march in their own path.
They burst through the defenses
and don’t break ranks.
9 They rush on the city.
They run on the wall.
They climb up into the houses.
They enter in at the windows like thieves.
10 The earth quakes before them.
The heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
11 Hashem thunders His voice before His army,
for His forces are very great;
for he is strong who obeys His command;
for the day of Hashem is great and very awesome,
and who can endure it?
Psalm 137:1-9
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down.
Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows in that land,
we hung up our harps.
3 For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs.
Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy:
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How can we sing Hashem’s song in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its skill.
6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don’t remember you,
if I don’t prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.
7 Remember, Hashem, against the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem,
who said, “Raze it!
Raze it even to its foundation!”
8 Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
he will be happy who repays you,
as you have done to us.
9 Happy shall he be,
who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.
