2 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of 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 blackness there is spread upon the mountains
    a great and powerful people;
their like has never been from of old,
    nor will be again after them
    through the years of all generations.

³ Fire devours before them,
    and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
    but after them a desolate wilderness,
    and nothing escapes them.

⁴ Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
    and like war horses they run.
⁵ As with the rumbling of chariots,
    they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
    devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
    drawn up for battle.

⁶ Before them peoples are in anguish,
    all faces grow pale.
⁷ Like warriors they charge,
    like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way,
    they do not swerve^[a] from their paths.
⁸ They do not jostle one another,
    each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
    and are not halted.
⁹ They leap upon the city,
    they run upon the walls;
they climb up into the houses,
    they enter through the windows like a thief.

¹⁰ The earth quakes before them,
    the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.
¹¹ The Lord utters his voice
    before his army,
for his host is exceedingly great;
    he that executes his word is powerful.
For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible;
    who can endure it?

¹² “Yet even now,” says the Lord,
    “return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
¹³     and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord, your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
    and repents of evil.
¹⁴ Who knows whether he will not turn and repent,
    and leave a blessing behind him,
a cereal offering and a drink offering
    for the Lord, your God?

¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion;
    sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
¹⁶     gather the people.
Sanctify the congregation;
    assemble the elders;
gather the children,
    even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
    and the bride her chamber.

¹⁷ Between the vestibule and the altar
    let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep
and say, “Spare thy people, O Lord,
    and make not thy heritage a reproach,
    a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
    ‘Where is their God?’”

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;
the stench and foul smell of him will rise,
    for he has done great things.

²¹ “Fear not, O land;
    be glad and rejoice,
    for the Lord has done great things!
²² Fear not, 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 sons of Zion,
    and rejoice in the Lord, your God;
for he has given the early rain for your vindication,
    he has poured down for you abundant rain,
    the early and the latter rain, as before.

²⁴ “The threshing floors shall be full of grain,
    the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
²⁵ I will restore to you the years
    which the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
    my great army, which I sent among you.

²⁶ “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
    and praise the name of the Lord your God,
    who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
²⁷ You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
    and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is none else.
And my people shall never again
    be put to shame.