Joel 2:1–24
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.
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.
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?
12 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord,
u“Turn to Me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
13 So vrend your heart, and not wyour garments;
Return to the Lord your God,
For He is xgracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
And He relents from doing harm.
14 yWho knows if He will turn and relent,
And leave za blessing behind Him—
aA grain offering and a drink offering
For the Lord your God?
15 bBlow the 6trumpet in Zion,
cConsecrate a fast,
Call a sacred assembly;
dSanctify the congregation,
Assemble the elders,
Gather the children and nursing babes;
eLet the bridegroom go out from his chamber,
And the bride from her dressing room.
17 Let the priests, who minister to the Lord,
Weep fbetween the porch and the altar;
Let them say, g“Spare Your people, O Lord,
And do not give Your heritage to reproach,
That the nations should 7rule over them.
hWhy should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’ ”
18 Then the Lord will ibe zealous for His land,
And pity His people.
19 The Lord will answer and say to His people,
“Behold, I will send you jgrain and new wine and oil,
And you will be satisfied by them;
I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.
20 “But kI will remove far from you lthe northern army,
And will drive him away into a barren and desolate land,
With his face toward the eastern sea
And his back mtoward the western sea;
His stench will come up,
And his foul odor will rise,
Because he has done 8monstrous things.”
Be glad and rejoice,
For the Lord has done 9marvelous things!
22 Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field;
For nthe open pastures are springing up,
And the tree bears its fruit;
The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
23 Be glad then, you children of Zion,
And orejoice in the Lord your God;
For He has given you the 1former rain faithfully,
And He pwill cause the rain to come down for you—
The former rain,
And the latter rain in the first month.
24 The threshing floors shall be full of wheat,
And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.