Blow ye the trumpet in Sion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: because the day of the Lord cometh, because it is nigh at hand.

²A day of darkness, and of gloominess, a day of clouds and whirlwinds: a numerous and strong people as the morning spread upon the mountains: the like to it hath not been from the beginning, nor shall be after it, even to the years of generation and generation.

³Before the face thereof a devouring fire, and behind it a burning flame: the land is like a garden of pleasure before it, and behind it a desolate wilderness, neither is there any one that can escape it.

⁴The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and they shall run like horsemen.

⁵They shall leap like the noise of chariots upon the tops of mountains, like the noise of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, as a strong people prepared to battle.

⁶At their presence the people shall be in grievous pains: all faces shall be made like a kettle.

⁷They shall run like valiant men: like men of war they shall scale the wall: the men shall march every one on his way, and they shall not turn aside from their ranks.

⁸No one shall press upon his brother: they shall walk every one in his path: yea, and they shall fall through the windows, and shall take no harm.

⁹They shall enter into the city: they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up the houses, they shall come in at the windows, as a thief.

¹⁰At their presence the earth hath trembled, the heavens are moved: the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining.

¹¹And the Lord hath uttered his voice before the face of his army: for his armies are exceedingly great, for they are strong, and execute his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible: and who can stand it?

¹²Now, therefore, saith the Lord. Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and mourning.

¹³And rend your hearts, and not your garments and turn to the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil.

¹⁴Who knoweth but he will return, and forgive, and leave a blessing behind him, sacrifice and libation to the Lord your God?

¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly,

¹⁶Gather together the people, sanctify the church, assemble the ancients, gather together the little ones, and them that suck at the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth from his bed, and the bride out of her bridal chamber.

¹⁷Between the porch and the altar the priests, the Lord’s ministers, shall weep, and shall say: Spare, O Lord, spare thy people: and give not thy inheritance to reproach, that the heathens should rule over them. Why should they say among the nations: Where is their God?

¹⁸The Lord hath been zealous for his land, and hath spared his people.

¹⁹And the Lord answered, and said to his people: Behold I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and you shall be filled with them: and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

²⁰And I will remove far off from you the northern enemy: and I will drive him into a land unpassable, and desert, with his face towards the east sea, and his hinder part towards the utmost sea: and his stench shall ascend, and his rottenness shall go up, because he hath done proudly.

²¹Fear not, O land, be glad, and rejoice: for the Lord hath done great things.

²²Fear not, ye beasts of the fields: for the beautiful places of the wilderness are sprung, for the tree hath brought forth its fruit, the fig tree, and the vine have yielded their strength.

²³And you, O children of Sion, rejoice, and be joyful in the Lord your God: because he hath given you a teacher of justice, and he will make the early and the latter rain to come down to you as in the beginning.

²⁴And the floors shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall overflow with wine, and oil.

²⁵And I will restore to you the years which the locust, and the bruchus, and the mildew, and the palmerworm hath eaten; my great host which I sent upon you.

²⁶And you shall eat in plenty, and shall be filled and you shall praise the name of the Lord your God; who hath done wonders with you, and my people shall not be confounded for ever.

²⁷And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: and I am the Lord your God, and there is none besides: and my people shall not be confounded forever.

²⁸And it shall come to pass after this, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.

²⁹Moreover, upon my servants and handmaids in those days I will pour forth my spirit.

³⁰And I will shew wonders in heaven; and in earth, blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke.

³¹The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood: before the great and dreadful day of the Lord doth come.

³²And it shall come to pass, that every one that shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved: for in Mount Sion, and in Jerusalem shall be salvation, as the Lord hath said, and in the residue whom the Lord shall call.

Chapter 3

For behold in those days, and in that time when I shall bring back the captivity of Juda, and Jerusalem:

²I will gather together all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Josaphat: and I will plead with them there for my people, and for my inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and have parted my land.

³And they have cast lots upon my people: and the boy they have put in the stews, and the girl they have sold for wine, that they might drink.

⁴But what have you to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the coast of the Philistines? will you revenge yourselves on me? and if you revenge yourselves on me, I will very soon return you a recompense upon your own head.

⁵For you have taken away my silver, and my gold: and my desirable, and most beautiful things you have carried into your temples.

⁶And the children of Juda, and the children of Jerusalem, you have sold to the children of the Greeks, that you might remove them far off from their own country.

⁷Behold, I will raise them up out of the place wherein you have sold them: and I will return your recompense upon your own heads.

⁸And I will sell your sons, and your daughters, by the hands of the children of Juda, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far off, for the Lord hath spoken it.

⁹Proclaim ye this among the nations: Prepare war, raise up the strong: let them come, let all the men of war come up.

¹⁰Cut your ploughshares into swords, and your spades into spears. Let the weak say: I am strong.

¹¹Break forth, and come, all ye nations from round about, and gather yourselves together: there will the Lord cause all thy strong ones to fall down.

¹²Let them arise, and let the nations come up into the valley of Josaphat: for there I will sit to judge all nations round about.

¹³Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe: come and go down, for the press is full, the fats run over: for their wickedness is multiplied.

¹⁴Nations, nations in the valley of destruction: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of destruction.

¹⁵The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining.

¹⁶And the Lord shall roar out of Sion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth shall be moved, and the Lord shall be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

¹⁷And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Sion, my holy mountain: and Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall pass through it no more.

¹⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk: and waters shall flow through all the rivers of Juda: and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the torrent of thorns.

¹⁹Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a wilderness destroyed: because they have done unjustly against the children of Juda, and have shed innocent blood in their land.

²⁰And Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to generation and generation.

²¹And I will cleanse their blood, which I had not cleansed: and the Lord will dwell in Sion.

Read in Logos

Public Domain