12“Yet even now,”
declares the LORD,
“return to Me with all your heart,
with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”
13So rend your hearts and not your garments,
and return to the LORD your God.
For He is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.
And He relents from sending disaster.
14Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave a blessing behind Him —
grain and drink offerings
for the LORD your God.
15Blow the ram’s horn in Zion,
consecrate a fast,
proclaim a sacred assembly.
16Gather the people, sanctify the congregation,
assemble the aged, gather the children,
even those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
17Let the priests who minister before the LORD
weep between the portico and the altar,
saying, “Spare Your people, O LORD,
and do not make Your heritage a reproach,
an object of scorn among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
18Then the LORD became jealous for His land,
and He spared His people.
— Joel 2:12-18