Joel 2:1–11

The Day of the Lord

2 Blow athe 1trumpet in Zion,

And bsound an alarm in My holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble;

For cthe day of the Lord is coming,

For it is at hand:

2 dA day of darkness and gloominess,

A day of clouds and thick darkness,

Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.

eA people come, great and strong,

fThe like of whom has never been;

Nor will there ever be any such after them,

Even for many successive generations.

3 A fire devours before them,

And behind them a flame burns;

The land is like gthe Garden of Eden before them,

hAnd behind them a desolate wilderness;

Surely nothing shall escape them.

4 iTheir appearance is like the appearance of horses;

And like 2swift steeds, so they run.

5 jWith 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.

6 Before them the people writhe in pain;

kAll faces 3are drained of color.

7 They run like mighty men,

They climb the wall like men of war;

Every one marches in formation,

And they do not break lranks.

8 They do not push one another;

Every one marches in his own 4column.

Though they lunge between the weapons,

They are not 5cut down.

9 They run to and fro in the city,

They run on the wall;

They climb into the houses,

They menter at the windows nlike a thief.

10 oThe earth quakes before them,

The heavens tremble;

pThe sun and moon grow dark,

And the stars diminish their brightness.

11 qThe Lord gives voice before His army,

For His camp is very great;

rFor strong is the One who executes His word.

For the sday of the Lord is great and very terrible;

tWho can endure it?