1Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm on my holy mountain. Let everyone who lives in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is near.
2It is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. Like the dawn spreading over the mountains, a great and strong people comes. There has never been anything like it, and there never will be again, through the years of many generations.
3A fire burns up everything in front of them, and behind them a flame blazes. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, and behind them an empty desert. Nothing escapes them.
4They look like horses, and they run like horsemen.
5They leap on the mountain tops with a noise like chariots, like the noise of a flame of fire burning up dry stalks, like a strong people lined up for battle.
6At the sight of them the peoples are in great pain. Every face turns pale.
7They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like soldiers. They each march straight ahead, and they do not break their ranks.
8They do not push one another. They each walk in their own path. They burst through the weapons and are not stopped.
9They rush about in the city. They run along the wall. They climb up into the houses. They come in through the windows like a thief.
10The earth shakes before them, and the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon go dark, and the stars stop shining.
11The LORD calls out with his voice in front of his army, for his camp is very great. Strong is the one who carries out his word. The day of the LORD is great and very terrible. Who can stand it?
12"Even now," says the LORD, "turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning."
13Tear your heart, and not your clothes, and turn to the LORD your God. For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and full of kindness, and he holds back from sending harm.
14Who knows? He may turn back and change his mind, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God.
15Blow the trumpet in Zion. Set apart a fast. Call a solemn meeting.
16Gather the people. Make the assembly holy. Bring together the elders. Gather the children, and the babies at the breast. Let the bridegroom come out of his room, and the bride out of hers.
17Let the priests, who serve the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, "Spare your people, LORD. Do not hand over what belongs to you to be shamed, and ruled by the nations. Why should the peoples say, 'Where is their God?'"
18Then the LORD was jealous for his land, and had pity on his people.
19The LORD will answer and say to his people, "Look, I will send you grain, and wine, and oil, and you will have enough. I will not let the nations shame you any more."
20"But I will drive the northern army far away from you. I will push it into a dry and empty land, with its front toward the eastern sea and its rear toward the western sea. Its stench will rise, and its foul smell will rise, because it has done great things."
21Do not be afraid, land. Be glad and rejoice, for the LORD will do great things.
22Do not be afraid, wild animals, for the desert pastures are turning green. The tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine give their best.
23So be glad, people of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God. He has given you the early rain in right measure. He will send down rain for you, the early rain and the late rain, in the first month.
24The threshing floors will be full of wheat, and the vats will overflow with wine and oil.
25"I will give you back the years that the locust ate, and the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army that I sent among you."
26"You will have plenty to eat, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has done wonderful things for you. My people will never be ashamed."
27"You will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and there is no other. My people will never be ashamed."
28"Afterward I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions."
29"In those days I will pour out my spirit even on the male servants and the female servants."
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 into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes."
32Then everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved. For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors whom the LORD calls.