A plague on your house!

"Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD." Joel 1.14

Nobody seems to know the dates of Joel, second in the list of 12 Minor Prophets. The book ascribed to him is replete with familiar prophetic motifs suggesting that, if he came late, he borrowed liberally from his predecessors but, if earlier, then his successors benefitted from a generous legacy of memorable declamations. One thing is clear, no one escapes the devastation brought about by a plague of locusts and, in like manner, no one should imagine that they can escape the judgment of God - even and especially his fellow Israelites. Yet once they have repented, Joel promises their restoration swiftly followed by retribution on their oppressors.