Joel 2

1 Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all who live in the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming—it's definitely near!

Let the horn be sounded in Zion, and a war-cry in my holy mountain; let all the people of the land be troubled: for the day of the Lord is coming;

2 It's a gloomy day of darkness, a day of thick clouds and heavy shadows. Like the dawn spreading over the mountains, an army appears, so large and powerful that there has never ever been anything like it before, nor will there ever be anything like it again.

For a day of dark and deep shade is near, a day of cloud and black night: like a black cloud a great and strong people is covering the mountains; there has never been any like them and will not be after them again, from generation to generation.

3 Fire blazes in front of them, behind them flames are burning. In front of them the land looks like the Garden of Eden, behind them is a desert of total desolation: not a single survivor remains.

Before them fire sends destruction, and after them flame is burning: the land is like the garden of Eden before them, and after them an unpeopled waste; truly, nothing has been kept safe from them.

4 They have the appearance of horses; they charge like cavalry.

Their form is like the form of horses, and they are running like war-horses.

5 Listen to the sound: they are like rumbling chariots leaping over the mountain tops, they are like crackling flames burning stubble, they are like a mighty army marching in formation into battle.

Like the sound of war-carriages they go jumping on the tops of the mountains; like the noise of a flame of fire burning up the grain-stems, like a strong people lined up for the fight.

6 Terror seizes all those in their path; all the people's faces grow pale.

At their coming the people are bent with pain: all faces become red together.

7 They attack like mighty warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. They all march as one, never breaking ranks.

They are running like strong men, they go over the wall like men of war; every man goes straight on his way, their lines are not broken.

8 They do not jostle one another, they stay on track; and even if some are cut down, they are not stopped.

No one is pushing against another; everyone goes straight on his way: bursting through the sword points, their order is not broken.

9 They rush to and fro in the city; they run along the walls; they climb into houses, entering through the windows like thieves.

They make a rush on the town, running on the wall; they go up into the houses and in through the windows like a thief.

10 The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon grow dark, the stars stop shining.

The earth is troubled before them and the heavens are shaking: the sun and the moon have become dark, and the stars keep back their shining:

11 The Lord shouts his commands at the head of his army. His camp his immense, and those who carry out his orders are powerful. The day of the Lord is totally terrifying—who can stand it?

And the Lord is thundering before his forces; for very great is his army; for he is strong who gives effect to his word: for the day of the Lord is great and greatly to be feared, and who has strength against it?

12 “Yet even now,” says the Lord, “Come back to me while there is still time. Come to me with all your heart, with fasting and prayer.

But even now, says the Lord, come back to me with all your heart, keeping from food, with weeping and with sorrow:

13 Repent in your minds, and not by tearing your clothes.” Come back to the Lord your God for he is gracious and kind. He is slow to get angry and full of faithful love, and changes his mind about sending punishment.

Let your hearts be broken, and not your clothing, and come back to the Lord your God: for he is full of grace and pity, slow to be angry and great in mercy, ready to be turned from his purpose of punishment.

14 Who knows? Maybe he will change his mind, leaving behind a blessing so that you will be able to make grain and wine offerings to the Lord your God.

May it not be that he will again let his purpose be changed and let a blessing come after him, even a meal offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion! Proclaim a fast; call a solemn assembly.

Let a horn be sounded in Zion, let a time be fixed for going without food, have a holy meeting:

16 Gather the people together: the elders, the children, even the babies. Let the bridegroom leave his room; let the bride leave her room.

Get the people together, make the mass of the people holy, send for the old men, get together the children and babies at the breast: let the newly married man come out of his room and the bride from her tent.

17 Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar of the Temple. Let them say, “Lord, please take pity on your people, and do not let your inheritance be disgraced, ruled over by foreign nations, so that the people of these nations could ask, ‘Where is their God?’”

Let the priests, the servants of the Lord, be weeping between the covered way and the altar, and let them say, Have mercy on your people, O Lord, do not give up your heritage to shame, so that the nations become their rulers: why let them say among the peoples, Where is their God?

18 Now the Lord is very protective of his land and takes pity on his people.

Then the Lord had a care for the honour of his land and had pity on his people.

19 The Lord will reply, saying to his people, “Look! I am sending you grain and new wine and olive oil, and you will be satisfied. You will no longer be a disgrace among the foreign nations.

And the Lord made answer and said to his people, See, I will send you grain and wine and oil in full measure: and I will no longer let you be shamed among the nations:

20 I will remove from you the army from the north; I will drive them into the desolate wilderness—the front into the eastern sea, and the rear into the western sea. The stench of the dead army will rise up—a real stink—for it has done terrible things.”

I will send the one from the north far away from you, driving him into a dry and waste land, with his front to the sea of the east and his back to the sea of the west, and the smell of him will go up, even his evil smell will go up.

21 Don't be afraid, people of the land! Be happy and celebrate, for the Lord has done incredible things!

Have no fear, O land; be glad with great joy; for the Lord has done great things.

22 Don't be afraid, wild animals! For the pastures of the wilderness are turning green. The trees are fruiting again—the fig trees and the grapevines are producing a good crop.

Have no fear, you beasts of the field, for the grass-lands of the waste are becoming green, for the trees are producing fruit, the fig-tree and the vine give out their strength.

23 People of Jerusalem! Celebrate and be happy in the Lord your God because he has given you rain to show his goodness. As before he sends the autumn and the spring rains.

Be glad, then, you children of Zion, and have joy in the Lord your God: for he gives you food in full measure, making the rain come down for you, the early and the late rain as at the first.

24 The threshing floors will be full of grain, the vats will overflow with new wine and olive oil.

And the floors will be full of grain, and the crushing-places overflowing with wine and oil.

25 “I will give back to you what you lost over the years to the swarming, hopping, destroying, and cutting locusts, this great army that I sent against you.

I will give back to you the years which were food for the locust, the plant-worm, the field-fly, and the worm, my great army which I sent among you.

26 You will have plenty to eat, and you will be satisfied, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God who has done miracles for you. My people will never again be ashamed.

You will have food in full measure, and give praise to the name of the Lord your God, who has done wonders for you:

27 You will know that I am in the midst of my people Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other. My people will never again be ashamed.

And you will be certain that I am in Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other: and my people will never be shamed.

28 After this I will pour out my spirit on everyone. Your sons and daughters will be my prophets, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.

And after that, it will come about, says the Lord, that I will send my spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will be prophets, your old men will have dreams, your young men will see visions:

29 In those days I will also pour out my spirit on male slaves and female slaves.

And on the servants and the servant-girls in those days I will send my spirit.

30 I will place wonders in the heavens and on earth: blood, and fire, and columns of smoke.

And I will let wonders be seen in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke.

31 The sun will turn dark, and the moon will turn red like blood at the coming of the great and fearful day of the Lord.”

The sun will be made dark and the moon turned to blood, before the great day of the Lord comes, a day to be feared.

32 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, rescued from Mount Zion and Jerusalem, as the Lord has said—these are among the survivors the Lord has called.

And it will be that whoever makes his prayer to the name of the Lord will be kept safe: for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem some will be kept safe, as the Lord has said, and will be among the small band marked out by the Lord.