Joel 2:17

Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, 'Spare your people, LORD. Do not make your heritage an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, “Where is their God?”'

Additional Resources

Other Translations

  • King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

    Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?

  • KJV1611 – Modern English

    Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare your people, O LORD, and give not your heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?

  • King James Version 1611 (Original)

    Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?

  • American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

    Let the priests,{H3548} the ministers{H8334} of Jehovah,{H3068} weep{H1058} between the porch{H197} and the altar,{H4196} and let them say,{H559} Spare{H2347} thy people,{H5971} O Jehovah,{H3068} and give{H5414} not thy heritage{H5159} to reproach,{H2781} that the nations{H1471} should rule over{H4910} them: wherefore should they say{H559} among the peoples,{H5971} Where is their God?{H430}

  • King James Version with Strong's Numbers

    Let the priests{H3548}, the ministers{H8334}{(H8764)} of the LORD{H3068}, weep{H1058}{(H8799)} between the porch{H197} and the altar{H4196}, and let them say{H559}{(H8799)}, Spare{H2347}{(H8798)} thy people{H5971}, O LORD{H3068}, and give{H5414}{(H8799)} not thine heritage{H5159} to reproach{H2781}, that the heathen{H1471} should rule over{H4910}{(H8800)} them: wherefore should they say{H559}{(H8799)} among the people{H5971}, Where is their God{H430}?

  • Coverdale Bible (1535)

    Let the prestes serue the LORDE betwixte the porch & ye aulter, wepinge & sayenge: be fauourable (o LORDE) be fauourable vnto thy people: let not thine heretage be brought to soch confucion, lest the Heithen be lordes therof. Wherfore shulde they saye amonge the Heithen: where is now their God?

  • Geneva Bible (1560)

    Let the Priestes, the ministers of the Lord weepe betweene the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and giue not thine heritage into reproche that the heathen should rule ouer them. Wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?

  • Bishops' Bible (1568)

    Let the priestes the Lordes ministers weepe betwixt the porche & the aulter, and let them say, Spare thy people O Lord, and geue not ouer thine heritage to reproche, that the heathen shoulde rule ouer them: Wherfore shoulde they say amongst the heathen, Where is their God?

  • Authorized King James Version (1611)

    Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where [is] their God?

  • Webster's Bible (1833)

    Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, "Spare your people, Yahweh, And don't give your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

  • Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

    Between the porch and the altar weep let the priests, ministrants of Jehovah, And let them say: `Have pity, O Jehovah, on Thy people, And give not Thy inheritance to reproach, To the ruling over them of nations, Why do they say among peoples, Where `is' their God?'

  • American Standard Version (1901)

    Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Jehovah, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?

  • American Standard Version (1901)

    Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Jehovah, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?

  • Bible in Basic English (1941)

    Let the priests, the servants of the Lord, be weeping between the covered way and the altar, and let them say, Have mercy on your people, O Lord, do not give up your heritage to shame, so that the nations become their rulers: why let them say among the peoples, Where is their God?

  • World English Bible (2000)

    Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, "Spare your people, Yahweh, and don't give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

  • NET Bible® (New English Translation)

    Let the priests, those who serve the LORD, weep from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. Let them say,“Have pity, O LORD, on your people; please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked, to become a proverb among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples,“Where is their God?”

Referenced Verses

  • Ezek 8:16 : 16 Then He brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, bowing down to the sun in the east.
  • Ps 79:10 : 10 Why should the nations say, 'Where is their God?' Let it be known among the nations before our eyes that You avenge the spilled blood of Your servants.
  • Ps 115:2 : 2 Why should the nations say, 'Where is their God?
  • Isa 37:20 : 20 Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, LORD, alone are God.
  • Ps 42:10 : 10 I say to God, my rock: 'Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?'
  • Ps 74:10 : 10 How long, O God, will the enemy reproach? Will the adversary despise Your name forever?
  • 1 Kgs 6:3 : 3 The vestibule in front of the main hall of the house was twenty cubits long, extending along the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house.
  • 2 Chr 8:12 : 12 At that time Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord that he had constructed in front of the portico.
  • Joel 1:9 : 9 Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests, the ministers of the Lord, mourn.
  • Amos 7:2 : 2 When they had finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, 'Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!'
  • Amos 7:5 : 5 Then I said, 'Lord God, please stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!'
  • Mic 7:10 : 10 Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, 'Where is the LORD your God?' My eyes will look upon her; now she will be trampled down like mud in the streets.
  • Matt 23:35 : 35 so that upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
  • Matt 27:43 : 43 'He trusts in God; let God deliver Him now, if He wants Him. For He said, "I am the Son of God."'
  • Mal 1:9 : 9 Now plead with God to be gracious to us. Will he accept you? This offering came from your hands. How can he be pleased with you? says the LORD of Hosts.
  • Joel 1:13 : 13 Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister to my God, for grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.
  • Ps 89:41 : 41 You have broken through all his walls; you have reduced his strongholds to ruins.
  • Ps 89:51 : 51 Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants, how I bear in my heart the insults of many peoples.
  • Ezek 20:9 : 9 But I acted for the sake of my name, to keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they lived and where I had made myself known to them by bringing them out of Egypt.
  • Ezek 36:4-7 : 4 therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and hills, to the streams and valleys, to the desolate ruins and the abandoned towns that have been plundered and ridiculed by the surrounding nations: 5 Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: Surely in my burning zeal I have spoken against the remnants of the nations and against Edom, who with glee and utter contempt claimed my land as their own possession, plundering its pasturelands. 6 Therefore, prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and hills, to the streams and valleys: ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I am speaking in my jealous anger because you have endured the scorn of the nations.’ 7 Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: 'I have raised my hand in an oath: Surely the nations that surround you will endure their own shame.'
  • Dan 9:18-19 : 18 Incline Your ear, my God, and hear. Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our pleas before You on account of our righteousness, but because of Your great mercy. 19 Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, pay attention and act! Do not delay, for Your own sake, my God, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.
  • Hos 14:2 : 2 Return, Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your sins.
  • Neh 9:36 : 36 Here we are today, slaves in the land You gave to our ancestors so they could enjoy its fruit and its goodness—here we are, slaves in it!
  • Ps 42:3 : 3 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
  • 1 Kgs 9:7 : 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them, and I will reject this temple I have consecrated for My name. Israel will then become a proverb and an object of ridicule among all peoples.
  • 2 Chr 7:20 : 20 then I will uproot you from My land that I have given you, and I will reject this temple I have consecrated for My name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.
  • Exod 32:11-13 : 11 But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God and said, "LORD, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?" 12 Why should the Egyptians say, 'He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent concerning this disaster against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you swore by yourself: 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised, and they shall inherit it forever.'
  • Exod 34:9 : 9 He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, O Lord, please let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our iniquity and our sin, and make us Your inheritance."
  • Num 14:14-16 : 14 They will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, LORD, are among these people, that you, LORD, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. 15 If you put all these people to death as one man, the nations who have heard about your fame will say, 16 'The LORD was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.'
  • Deut 9:16-29 : 16 I saw that you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had made a molten calf for yourselves. You had quickly turned aside from the way the LORD had commanded you. 17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them down, shattering them before your eyes. 18 Then I fell down before the LORD as I had done before, for forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the LORD's sight and provoking him to anger. 19 I was afraid of the fierce anger and wrath the LORD had directed against you, enough to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me that time also. 20 The LORD was very angry with Aaron, and he was ready to destroy him. But I prayed for Aaron at that time as well. 21 Then I took the sinful thing you had made—the calf—and burned it in the fire. I crushed it, grinding it into fine dust, and threw the dust into the stream that flows down from the mountain. 22 You continued to provoke the LORD to anger at Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattaavah. 23 And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, 'Go up and take possession of the land I have given you,' you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You did not trust him or obey his voice. 24 You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day I first knew you. 25 So I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, just as I had done before, because the LORD had said he would destroy you. 26 I prayed to the LORD and said, 'O Lord GOD, do not destroy your people, your inheritance, whom you redeemed through your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand. 27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not focus on the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness, or their sin. 28 Otherwise, the land from which you brought us out will say, "The LORD was not able to bring them into the land he promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to kill them in the wilderness." 29 But they are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.
  • Deut 28:37 : 37 You will become an object of horror, a byword, and a taunt among all the peoples to which the LORD will drive you.
  • Deut 32:27 : 27 but I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say, 'Our own hand has triumphed; it was not the LORD who did all this.'
  • Ps 74:18-23 : 18 Remember this, O LORD, that the enemy has insulted You, and a foolish people has despised Your name. 19 Do not give the life of Your turtledove to the wild beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted ones forever. 20 Consider the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are filled with the dens of violence. 21 Do not let the oppressed retreat in humiliation; let the poor and needy praise Your name. 22 Arise, O God, and defend Your cause; remember how fools insult You all day long. 23 Do not forget the clamor of Your adversaries, the uproar of those who rise against You, which continually ascends.
  • Ps 79:4 : 4 We have become an object of scorn to our neighbors, mocked and ridiculed by those around us.
  • Ps 44:10-14 : 10 Yet You have rejected and humiliated us, and You no longer go out with our armies. 11 You make us retreat before the enemy, and those who hate us have plundered us for themselves. 12 You delivered us like sheep to be eaten and have scattered us among the nations. 13 You sold Your people for nothing and made no profit from their sale. 14 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
  • Isa 63:17-19 : 17 Why, LORD, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes that are your inheritance. 18 For a little while your holy people possessed your sanctuary; our adversaries have trampled it underfoot. 19 We are yours from of old, but you have not ruled over them; they have not been called by your name. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!
  • Isa 64:9-9 : 9 Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation. 10 Our holy and glorious house, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins. 11 For these things, will you restrain yourself, LORD? Will you remain silent and afflict us so severely?

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Joel 2:18
    79%

    18 Then the LORD became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.

  • Joel 1:13-14
    2 verses
    78%

    13 Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister to my God, for grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.

    14 Declare a holy fast; proclaim a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.

  • Lam 2:20
    77%

    20 Look, LORD, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their own children, the little ones they have cherished? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

  • Lam 2:6-7
    2 verses
    76%

    6 He has violently done away with his dwelling, as if it were a garden, destroying his appointed meeting place. The LORD has caused Zion to forget its appointed times and Sabbaths. In his fierce anger, he has despised king and priest alike.

    7 The Lord has rejected his altar and disowned his sanctuary. He has delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces. They raised their voices in the house of the LORD as on a day of appointed festival.

  • Ps 115:2
    76%

    2 Why should the nations say, 'Where is their God?

  • Jer 9:18
    75%

    18 'For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: “How devastated we are! We are utterly ashamed, for we have left the land and our dwellings have been cast off.”'

  • Mal 2:13
    75%

    13 And this is another thing you do: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears, weeping and groaning, because He no longer regards your offering or accepts it with favor from your hands.

  • Lam 4:16
    75%

    16 The LORD Himself has scattered them; He will no longer watch over them. The priests are not honored, and the elders receive no favor.

  • Ps 79:10
    74%

    10 Why should the nations say, 'Where is their God?' Let it be known among the nations before our eyes that You avenge the spilled blood of Your servants.

  • Jer 3:21
    74%

    21 A voice is heard on the barren heights: the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the LORD their God.

  • Jer 14:17
    74%

    17 You are to speak this word to them: 'Let my eyes flow with tears night and day without ceasing, for the virgin daughter of my people has suffered a great shattering—a crushing blow, a grievous wound.'

  • Jer 13:17
    74%

    17 But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will weep bitterly and overflow with tears, for the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.

  • Joel 1:9
    74%

    9 Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests, the ministers of the Lord, mourn.

  • Jer 2:8
    74%

    8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds rebelled against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed worthless things.

  • Jer 4:8-9
    2 verses
    74%

    8 For this, put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.

    9 On that day, declares the LORD, the heart of the king and the officials will fail; the priests will be horrified, and the prophets will be astonished.

  • Jer 2:11-12
    2 verses
    73%

    11 Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glory for worthless idols.

    12 Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD.

  • Jer 8:19
    73%

    19 Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away: 'Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King no longer there?' Why have they provoked me to anger with their idols, with their worthless foreign gods?

  • Neh 9:32
    73%

    32 Now therefore, our God, the great, mighty, and awesome God who keeps His covenant and steadfast love, do not let the hardship that has come upon us—on our kings, leaders, priests, prophets, ancestors, and on all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today—seem insignificant to You.

  • Lam 2:18
    73%

    18 Their heart cried out to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let your tears flow like a stream day and night; give yourself no rest, and let your eyes have no respite.

  • Ps 80:4
    73%

    4 God, restore us! Make your face shine upon us so that we may be saved.

  • Jer 2:31
    73%

    31 You people of this generation, consider the word of the LORD: ‘Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of deep darkness? Why do my people say, “We are free to roam; we will come to you no more”?’

  • 2 Chr 13:9
    73%

    9 Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the descendants of Aaron, and the Levites, and appointed your own priests like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes with a young bull and seven rams can become a priest of what are not gods.

  • Mic 2:4
    73%

    4 On that day, they will take up a taunt against you and wail with bitter lament, saying: 'We are utterly ruined; my people's inheritance is divided. How it has been taken away from me! He removes our fields and gives them to traitors.'

  • Deut 32:37
    73%

    37 And He will say: 'Where are their gods? The rock they sought refuge in?

  • Dan 9:16
    73%

    16 O Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, let Your anger and wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain. For because of our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and Your people have become an object of scorn to all those around us.

  • Lam 1:10
    73%

    10 The enemy has laid hands on all her treasures; she saw nations enter her sanctuary—those you had forbidden to enter your assembly.

  • Jer 16:10
    73%

    10 When you tell these people all these words, they will ask you, 'Why has the LORD declared such a great calamity against us? What is our guilt? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'

  • Joel 2:12
    72%

    12 Even now, declares the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

  • Lam 2:1-2
    2 verses
    72%

    1 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion in his anger with a cloud! He has thrown down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth and has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.

    2 The Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob without pity. In his wrath, he has torn down the fortresses of the daughter of Judah, bringing them down to the ground. He has defiled her kingdom and its rulers.

  • Mal 2:17
    72%

    17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you ask, 'How have we wearied Him?' By saying, 'Everyone who does evil is good in the eyes of the Lord, and He delights in them,' or 'Where is the God of justice?'

  • Lam 1:18
    72%

    18 The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against his word. Listen, all you peoples; look at my suffering. My young women and my young men have gone into captivity.

  • Ps 79:1
    72%

    1 A psalm of Asaph. O God, nations have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and made Jerusalem a heap of ruins.

  • Mic 2:9
    72%

    9 You drive the women of my people out of their pleasant homes. You take away my splendor from their children forever.

  • 2 Chr 29:8
    72%

    8 Therefore, the wrath of the LORD fell upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He made them an object of horror, devastation, and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes.

  • Isa 5:25
    72%

    25 Therefore the LORD’s anger burns against His people. He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down. The mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, His anger has not turned away; His hand is still stretched out.

  • Isa 1:10
    72%

    10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah.

  • Jer 51:51
    72%

    51 We are ashamed because we have heard reproach; disgrace has covered our faces because foreigners have entered the holy places of the Lord's house.

  • Jer 12:11
    72%

    11 They have made it a desolation, and it mourns before me. The whole land is desolate, but no one takes it to heart.

  • Mic 3:11
    72%

    11 Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for silver. Yet they lean on the LORD, saying, 'Is not the LORD among us? No disaster will come upon us.'

  • Hos 4:4
    72%

    4 But let no one contend, and let no one rebuke, for your people are like those who argue with a priest.

  • Isa 64:11
    72%

    11 For these things, will you restrain yourself, LORD? Will you remain silent and afflict us so severely?

  • Amos 2:7
    72%

    7 'They trample on the dust of the earth on the heads of the poor and obstruct the way of the afflicted. A man and his father go to the same girl, so that they profane My holy name.'

  • Zeph 2:1
    72%

    1 Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, you nation without shame!

  • Zech 7:3
    72%

    3 They asked the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts and the prophets, 'Should I weep in the fifth month and abstain, as I have done for so many years?'