Joel 2:17 “Let the priests who minister before the LORD weep between the portico…”

Joel 2:17

Let 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?’”

Berean Standard Bible

Other translations

King James 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?

World English Bible

Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare your people, LORD, 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?’”

American Standard Version

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?

Geneva Bible 1599

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?

Darby Translation

Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare, O Jehovah, thy people, and give not thine inheritance to reproach, that they should be a byword of the nations. Wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?

Young's Literal Translation

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?'

Bible in Basic English

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?

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Cross references

“the priests”

Joel 1:9 Joel 1:13

Joel 1:9 · BSB

Grain and drink offerings have been cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD.

Joel 1:13 · BSB

Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.

“between”

Ezekiel 8:16 1 Kings 6:3 Matthew 23:35 2 Chronicles 8:12

Ezekiel 8:16 · BSB

So He brought me to the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the LORD…

1 Kings 6:3 · BSB

The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits in front of the temple.

Matthew 23:35 · BSB

And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

2 Chronicles 8:12 · BSB

At that time Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD he had built in front of the portico.

“and let”

Hosea 14:2

Hosea 14:2 · BSB

Bring your confessions and return to the LORD. Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.

“Spare”

Exodus 34:9 Amos 7:2 Exodus 32:11–13 Isaiah 37:20 Isaiah 64:9–12 Amos 7:5

Exodus 34:9 · BSB

“O Lord,” he said, “if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, my Lord, please go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our iniquity and sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”

Amos 7:2 · BSB

And when the locusts had eaten every green plant in the land, I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”

Exodus 32:11–13 · BSB

But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God, saying, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?

Isaiah 37:20 · BSB

And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God. ”

Isaiah 64:9–12 · BSB

Do not be angry, O LORD, beyond measure; do not remember our iniquity forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray; we are all Your people!

Amos 7:5 · BSB

Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”

“and give”

Psalm 44:10–14 Psalm 74:10 Psalm 74:18–23 Psalm 79:4 Psalm 89:41 Psalm 89:51

Psalm 44:10–14 · BSB

You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.

Psalm 74:10 · BSB

How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?

Psalm 74:18–23 · BSB

Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.

Psalm 79:4 · BSB

We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.

Psalm 89:41 · BSB

All who pass by plunder him; he has become a reproach to his neighbors.

Psalm 89:51 · BSB

how Your enemies have taunted, O LORD, and have mocked every step of Your anointed one!

“that”

Isaiah 63:17–19 Nehemiah 9:36

Isaiah 63:17–19 · BSB

Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.

Nehemiah 9:36 · BSB

So here we are today as slaves in the land You gave our fathers to enjoy its fruit and goodness— here we are as slaves!

“rule over them”

Deuteronomy 28:37 1 Kings 9:7 2 Chronicles 7:20 Psalm 44:14

Deuteronomy 28:37 · BSB

You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the LORD will drive you.

1 Kings 9:7 · BSB

then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples.

2 Chronicles 7:20 · BSB

then I will uproot Israel from the soil I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.

Psalm 44:14 · BSB

You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.

“wherefore”

Psalm 115:2 Psalm 79:10 Numbers 14:14–16 Deuteronomy 32:27 Psalm 42:10 Ezekiel 20:9

Psalm 115:2 · BSB

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Psalm 79:10 · BSB

Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.

Numbers 14:14–16 · BSB

And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have already heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, that You, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stands over them, and that…

Deuteronomy 32:27 · BSB

if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the LORD who did all this.’”

Psalm 42:10 · BSB

Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Ezekiel 20:9 · BSB

But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they were living, in whose sight I had revealed Myself to Israel by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.

Also

Psalm 42:3

Psalm 42:3 · BSB

My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Cross references adapted from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0) and the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

In context

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.

18Then the LORD became jealous for His land, and He spared His people.

Read Joel 2