Joel 2:2-11

New King James Version

²^(A)A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.
^(B)A people come, great and strong,
^(C)The like of whom has never been;
Nor will there ever be any such after them,
Even for many successive generations.

³A fire devours before them,
And behind them a flame burns;
The land is like ^(D)the Garden of Eden before them,
^(E)And behind them a desolate wilderness;
Surely nothing shall escape them.
⁴^(F)Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like ^[a]swift steeds, so they run.
⁵^(G)With a noise like chariots
Over mountaintops they leap,
Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble,
Like a strong people set in battle array.

⁶Before them the people writhe in pain;
^(H)All faces ^[b]are drained of color.
⁷They run like mighty men,
They climb the wall like men of war;
Every one marches in formation,
And they do not break ^(I)ranks.
⁸They do not push one another;
Every one marches in his own ^[c]column.
Though they lunge between the weapons,
They are not ^[d]cut down.
⁹They run to and fro in the city,
They run on the wall;
They climb into the houses,
They ^(J)enter at the windows ^(K)like a thief.

¹⁰^(L)The earth quakes before them,
The heavens tremble;
^(M)The sun and moon grow dark,
And the stars diminish their brightness.
¹¹^(N)The Lord gives voice before His army,
For His camp is very great;
^(O)For strong is the One who executes His word.
For the ^(P)day of the Lord is great and very terrible;
^(Q)Who can endure it?