2 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
    and sound an alarm in my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
    for the day of Yahweh comes,
    for it is close at hand:
² A day of darkness and gloominess,
    a day of clouds and thick darkness.
As the dawn spreading on the mountains,
    a great and strong people;
    there has never been the like,
    neither will there be any more after them,
    even to the years of many generations.
³ A fire devours before them,
    and behind them, a flame burns.
The land is as the garden of Eden before them,
    and behind them, a desolate wilderness.
Yes, and no one has escaped them.
⁴ Their appearance is as the appearance of horses,
    and they run as horsemen.
⁵ Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains, they leap,
    like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble,
    like a strong people set in battle array.
⁶ At their presence the peoples are in anguish.
    All faces have grown pale.
⁷ They run like mighty men.
    They climb the wall like warriors.
    They each march in his line, and they don’t swerve off course.
⁸ Neither does one jostle another;
    they march everyone in his path,
    and they burst through the defenses,
    and don’t break ranks.
⁹ They rush on the city.
    They run on the wall.
    They climb up into the houses.
    They enter in at the windows like thieves.
¹⁰ The earth quakes before them.
    The heavens tremble.
    The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.
¹¹ Yahweh thunders his voice before his army;
    for his forces are very great;
    for he is strong who obeys his command;
    for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome,
    and who can endure it?