Joel 1:15–2:11

^15xAlas for the day!

For ^ythe day of the Lord is at hand;

It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.

¹⁶Is not the food ^zcut off before our eyes,

^aJoy and gladness from the house of our God?

¹⁷The seed shrivels under the clods,

Storehouses are in shambles;

Barns are broken down,

For the grain has withered.

¹⁸How ^bthe animals groan!

The herds of cattle are restless,

Because they have no pasture;

Even the flocks of sheep ⁴suffer punishment.

¹⁹O Lord, ^cto You I cry out;

For ^dfire has devoured the ⁵open pastures,

And a flame has burned all the trees of the field.

²⁰The beasts of the field also ^ecry out to You,

For ^fthe water brooks are dried up,

And fire has devoured the ⁶open pastures.

The Day of the Lord

2Blow ^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:

^2dA 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.

³A 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.

⁴ⁱTheir appearance is like the appearance of horses;

And like ²swift steeds, so they run.

^5jWith 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.

⁶Before them the people writhe in pain;

^kAll faces ³are drained of color.

⁷They run like mighty men,

They climb the wall like men of war;

Every one marches in formation,

And they do not break ^lranks.

⁸They do not push one another;

Every one marches in his own ⁴column.

Though they lunge between the weapons,

They are not ⁵cut down.

⁹They 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.

^10oThe earth quakes before them,

The heavens tremble;

^pThe sun and moon grow dark,

And the stars diminish their brightness.

^11qThe 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?