Joel 2:2–11

A black day! A Doomsday!

Clouds with no silver lining!

Like dawn light moving over the mountains,

a huge army is coming.

There’s never been anything like it

and never will be again.

Wildfire burns everything before this army

and fire licks up everything in its wake.

Before it arrives, the country is like the Garden of Eden.

When it leaves, it is Death Valley.

Nothing escapes unscathed.

^4–6The locust army seems all horses—

galloping horses, an army of horses.

It sounds like thunder

leaping on mountain ridges,

Or like the roar of wildfire

through grass and brush,

Or like an invincible army shouting for blood,

ready to fight, straining at the bit.

At the sight of this army,

the people panic, faces white with terror.

^7–11The invaders charge.

They climb barricades. Nothing stops them.

Each soldier does what he’s told,

so disciplined, so determined.

They don’t get in each other’s way.

Each one knows his job and does it.

Undaunted and fearless,

unswerving, unstoppable.

They storm the city,

swarm its defenses,

Loot the houses,

breaking down doors, smashing windows.

They arrive like an earthquake,

sweep through like a tornado.

Sun and moon turn out their lights,

stars black out.

God himself bellows in thunder

as he commands his forces.

Look at the size of that army!

And the strength of those who obey him!

God’s Judgment Day—great and terrible.

Who can possibly survive this?