約珥書2:1-2

2:1 你們要在錫安吹角，在我聖山吹出大聲。國中的居民都要發顫；因為耶和華的日子將到，已經臨近。

2:2 那日是黑暗、幽冥、密雲、烏黑的日子，好像晨光鋪滿山嶺。有一隊蝗蟲（原文是民）又大又強；從來沒有這樣的，以後直到萬代也必沒有。

Blow a trumpet in Zion;

sound an alarm on my holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,

a day of darkness and gloom,

 a day of clouds and thick darkness!

Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains

 a great and powerful people;

 their like has never been before,

nor will be again after them

through the years of all generations.

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    先知約珥用蝗蟲的出現，來形容末日的景象，正如他所描述：「那日是黑暗、幽冥、密雲、烏黑的日子，好像晨光鋪滿山嶺。有一隊蝗蟲（原文是民）又大又強；從來沒有這樣的，以後直到萬代也必沒有。」

    也因此，在面對上帝末日的審判，人要預備好。如何預備呢？就是要藉著耶穌基督的救恩勝過審判。因為誰都無法靠自己的能力來面對審判，沒有一個人在上帝面前站立的著，必須有耶穌才可以通過審判，正如約翰一書4章15-18節說：「凡認耶穌為上帝兒子的，上帝就住在他裡面，他也住在上帝裡面。上帝愛我們的心，我們也知道也信。上帝就是愛；住在愛裡面的，就是住在上帝裡面，上帝也住在他裡面。這樣，愛在我們裡面得以完全，我們就可以在審判的日子坦然無懼。因為他如何，我們在這世上也如何。愛裡沒有懼怕；愛既完全，就把懼怕除去。因為懼怕裡含著刑罰，懼怕的人在愛裡未得完全。」

    審判不是在遙遠的未來，因為耶穌基督說，那日子近了！你準備好了嗎？

約珥書1:13-20

1:13 祭司啊，你們當腰束麻布痛哭；伺候祭壇的啊，你們要哀號；事奉我上帝的啊，你們要來披上麻布過夜，因為素祭和奠祭從你們上帝的殿中斷絕了。

1:14 你們要分定禁食的日子，宣告嚴肅會，招聚長老和國中的一切居民到耶和華─你們上帝的殿，向耶和華哀求。

1:15 哀哉！耶和華的日子臨近了。這日來到，好像毀滅從全能者來到。

1:16 糧食不是在我們眼前斷絕了嗎？歡喜快樂不是從我們上帝的殿中止息了嗎？

1:17 穀種在土塊下朽爛；倉也荒涼，廩也破壞；因為五穀枯乾了。

1:18 牲畜哀鳴；牛群混亂，因為無草；羊群也受了困苦。

1:19 耶和華啊，我向你求告，因為火燒滅曠野的草場；火焰燒盡田野的樹木。

1:20 田野的走獸向你發喘；因為溪水乾涸，火也燒滅曠野的草場。

13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests;

 wail, O ministers of the altar.

Go in, pass the night in sackcloth,

 O ministers of my God!

 Because grain offering and drink offering

are withheld from the house of your God.

14 Consecrate a fast;

 call 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.

15 Alas for the day!

 For the day of the Lord is near,

and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.

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;

the storehouses are desolate;

the granaries are torn down

because the grain has dried up.

18 How the beasts groan!

The herds of cattle are perplexed

because there is no pasture for them;

even the flocks of sheep suffer.

19 To you, O Lord, I call.

 For fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness,

 and flame has burned

all the trees of the field.

20 Even the beasts of the field pant for you

because the water brooks are dried up,

 and fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness.

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    先知為著糧食缺乏，要求百姓要認罪悔改！

約珥書1:8-12

1:8 我的民哪，你當哀號，像處女腰束麻布，為幼年的丈夫哀號。

1:9 素祭和奠祭從耶和華的殿中斷絕；事奉耶和華的祭司都悲哀。

1:10 田荒涼，地悲哀；因為五穀毀壞，新酒乾竭，油也缺乏。

1:11 農夫啊，你們要慚愧；修理葡萄園的啊，你們要哀號；因為大麥小麥與田間的莊稼都滅絕了。

1:12 葡萄樹枯乾；無花果樹衰殘。石榴樹、棕樹、蘋果樹，連田野一切的樹木也都枯乾；眾人的喜樂盡都消滅。

8 Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth

for the bridegroom of her youth.

9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off

from the house of the Lord.

 The priests mourn,

 the ministers of the Lord.

10 The fields are destroyed,

 the ground mourns,

because the grain is destroyed,

 the wine dries up,

the oil languishes.

11 Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil;

wail, O vinedressers,

for the wheat and the barley,

 because the harvest of the field has perished.

12 The vine dries up;

 the fig tree languishes.

Pomegranate, palm, and apple,

all the trees of the field are dried up,

and gladness dries up

from the children of man.

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    一切農作物都被昆蟲吃掉，甚至要獻給上帝的素祭和澆奠的祭也沒有了！這下子祭司也沒有食物了！這是何等可怕的事啊！

約珥書1章

    約珥書1:1-7  , 

    約珥書1章5-12節  ,

    約珥書1:8-12  ,

   約珥書1:13-20  ,

約珥書1:1-7

1:1 耶和華的話臨到毘土珥的兒子約珥。

1:2 老年人哪，當聽我的話；國中的居民哪，都要側耳而聽。在你們的日子，或你們列祖的日子，曾有這樣的事嗎？

1:3 你們要將這事傳與子，子傳與孫，孫傳與後代。

1:4 剪蟲剩下的，蝗蟲來吃；蝗蟲剩下的，蝻子來吃；蝻子剩下的，螞蚱來吃。

1:5 酒醉的人哪，要清醒哭泣；好酒的人哪，都要為甜酒哀號，因為從你們的口中斷絕了。

1:6 有一隊蝗蟲（原文是民）又強盛又無數，侵犯我的地；牠的牙齒如獅子的牙齒，大牙如母獅的大牙。

1:7 牠毀壞我的葡萄樹，剝了我無花果樹的皮，剝盡而丟棄，使枝條露白。

The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

Hear this, you elders;

give ear, all inhabitants of the land!

 Has such a thing happened in your days,

or in the days of your fathers?

Tell your children of it,

and let your children tell their children,

and their children to another generation.

What the cutting locust left,

 the swarming locust has eaten.

What the swarming locust left,

 the hopping locust has eaten,

and what the hopping locust left,

 the destroying locust has eaten.

Awake, you drunkards, and weep,

and wail, all you drinkers of wine,

because of the sweet wine,

for it is cut off from your mouth.

For a nation has come up against my land,

 powerful and beyond number;

 its teeth are lions 'teeth,

and it has the fangs of a lioness.

It has laid waste my vine

and splintered my fig tree;

it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;

their branches are made white.

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    約珥先知用蝗蟲的災害來使以色列人認識上帝的審判，讓他們感受到死亡的威脅。因為人犯罪的結果帶來愁苦，愁苦讓人感受到死亡的威脅，因為所有的一切都被奪走了，真的是一無所有了，連自己都沒有了！

    死亡真的是如此，使我們一切的奮鬥與努力都歸於無有，都被剝奪，都成了無意義，真的如煙霧一般轉眼成為空！

    也因此人需要基督，因為唯有在基督裡的才能存到永遠，才不會被死亡所奪去，因為耶穌勝過死亡！