Joel 2

¹ Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming —
it is near.

² A day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like dawn spreading over the mountains —
a great and powerful people.
There has never been anything like them,
nor will there be again
through the years of all generations.

³ Before them fire devours;
behind them flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden;
behind them, a desolate wilderness —
and nothing escapes them.

⁴ Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
and like war horses they charge.

⁵ Like the rumbling of chariots
they leap on the mountaintops;
like the crackling of a flame of fire
devouring stubble;
like a mighty army
drawn up for battle.

⁶ Before them peoples writhe in anguish;
all faces turn pale.

⁷ They charge like warriors;
they scale walls like soldiers.
Each marches in his own path,
and they do not swerve from their course.

⁸ They do not jostle one another;
each marches in his own track.
They burst through the weapons
and are not stopped.

⁹ They rush upon the city;
they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses;
they enter through the windows like a thief.

¹⁰ Before them the earth quakes;
the heavens tremble.
The sun and moon grow dark,
and the stars withdraw their brightness.

¹¹ The LORD thunders his voice
before his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
strong is the one who carries out his word.
For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible;
who can endure it?

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

¹³ Tear your hearts and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in faithful love,
and he relents concerning disaster.

¹⁴ Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave a blessing behind him —
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the LORD your God.

¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion;
consecrate a fast;
call a sacred assembly.

¹⁶ Gather the people;
consecrate the assembly;
assemble the elders;
gather the children,
even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her chamber.

¹⁷ Between the porch and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep
and say, "Spare your people, O LORD,
and do not make your inheritance a disgrace,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
'Where is their God?'"

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

¹⁹ The LORD answered and said to his people,
"Behold, I am sending you
grain, new wine, and oil,
and you will be satisfied by them.
I will no longer make you
a disgrace among the nations.

²⁰ I will remove the northerner far from you
and drive him into a parched and desolate land,
his front into the eastern sea
and his rear into the western sea.
His stench will rise,
and his foul smell will go up,
for he has done great things."

²¹ Do not fear, O land;
be glad and rejoice,
for the LORD has done great things.

²² Do not fear, you beasts of the field,
for the pastures of the wilderness are green.
The tree bears its fruit;
the fig tree and vine give their full yield.

²³ Be glad, O children of Zion,
and rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given you the early rain for your vindication.
He pours down for you abundant rain —
the early and the latter rain, as before.

²⁴ The threshing floors will be full of grain,
and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

²⁵ I will restore to you the years
that the swarming locust has eaten —
the creeping locust, the stripping locust,
and the cutting locust,
my great army that I sent among you.

²⁶ You will eat in plenty and be satisfied
and praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
My people will never again be put to shame.

²⁷ You will know that I am in the midst of Israel,
that I am the LORD your God, and there is no other.
My people will never again be put to shame.

²⁸ And it will come about afterward
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.
Your sons and your daughters will prophesy;
your old men will dream dreams;
your young men will see visions.

²⁹ Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

³⁰ I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth —
blood and fire and columns of smoke.

³¹ The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.

³² And everyone who calls
on the name of the LORD will be saved.
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be those who escape,
as the LORD has said —
and among the survivors
whom the LORD calls.