CHAPTER 2

                 ¹Blow the ram’s horn in Zion,

                     sound the alarm on my holy mountain.

                 Let all the land’s dwellers shake,

                     for the day of the LORD comes, yes, nears.

                 ²A day of darkness and of gloom,

                     a day of clouds and dense fog.

                 Like dawn spread out on the mountains—

                     a vast and numerous people.

                 Its like has never been

                     and after it will be none like it

                         through years of generations without end.

                 ³Before it fire consumes

                     and behind it a flame burns hot.

                 Like the Garden of Eden was the land before it,

                     and behind it desolate desert,

                         nor does anything escape it.

                 ⁴Like the look of horses is its look,

                     like horsemen so they race.

                 ⁵Like the sound of chariots

                     on the mountaintops they bound.

                 Like the sound of fiery flame

                     consuming straw,

                 like a vast troop

                     arrayed for battle.

                 ⁶Before it peoples tremble,

                     all faces lose their luster.

                 ⁷Like warriors they race,

                     like men of war they scale the walls.

                 Each goes ahead on his way

                     and they do not bend their paths,

                 ⁸and each does not press against his fellow,

                     every man goes on his road,

                 and through the outer wall they pounce,

                     they do not suffer wounds.

                 ⁹In the town they raise a clamor,

                     they race upon the walls,

                 they go up in the houses,

                     through the windows they come like a thief.

                 ¹⁰Before it the earth shudders,

                     the heavens shake,

                 sun and moon go dark

                     and stars their radiance withdraw.

                 ¹¹And the LORD sends forth His voice

                     before His force,

                 for very great is His camp,

                     for vast are those who do His command.

                 For great is the day of the LORD,

                     and who can endure it?

                 ¹²And now, too, said the LORD,

                     turn back to Me with all your heart,

                         in fasting and weeping and mourning,

                 ¹³and rend your heart, not your garments,

                     and turn back to the LORD your God,

                 for He is gracious and compassionate,

                     slow to anger and abounding in kindness

                         and relenting over evil.

                 ¹⁴Who knows? He may once more relent

                     and leave blessing after Him,

                         grain offering and libation to the LORD your God.

                 ¹⁵Blast the ram’s horn in Zion,

                     pronounce a fast,

                         proclaim convocation.

                 ¹⁶Gather the people,

                     dedicate an assembly,

                 summon the elders,

                     gather the babes,

                         the sucklings at the breast.

                 Let the bridegroom come out from his chamber

                     and the bride from her wedding canopy.

                 ¹⁷Between the great hall and the altar

                     let the priests weep,

                 let the LORD’s ministrants say,

                     “Have pity, LORD, on Your people,

                 and do not let Your estate be disgraced

                     for nations to rule over them.

                 Why should they say among the peoples,

                     ‘Where is their God?’

                 ¹⁸And let the LORD be zealous for His land

                     and show mercy for His people.”

                 ¹⁹And the LORD answered and said to His people,

                     I am about to send to you

                 new grain and new wine and oil

                     and you will be sated with them.

                 And I will no more make you

                     disgraced among the nations.

                 ²⁰And the northerner I will put far from you

                     and scatter him to a parched and desolate land,

                 his face to the eastern sea

                     and his end to the western sea.

                 And his stench shall go up

                     and his foul odor go up,

                         for he has done enormities.

                 ²¹Do not fear, O land,

                     exult and rejoice,

                         for the LORD has done enormous things.

                 ²²Do not fear, O beasts of the field,

                     for the wilderness meadows sprout grass,

                 for the tree yields its fruit,

                     the fig tree and vine put forth their wealth.

                 ²³And children of Zion,

                     exult and rejoice

                         in the LORD your God.

                 For he has given you the early rain as bounty

                     and brought down the rain for you,

                         early rain and latter rain as before.

                 ²⁴And the threshing floors shall fill with grain

                         and the vats overflow with new wine and oil.

                 ²⁵And I will pay you back for the years

                     that the grasshopper ate,

                         the swarmer, the grub, and the locust,

                 My great force that I sent against you.

                 ²⁶And you shall eat, be continuously sated,

                     and you shall praise the name of the LORD your God

                 Who has done wondrously for you,

                     and My people shall not be shamed evermore.

                 ²⁷And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,

                     and I am the LORD your God, there is none else,

                         and My people shall not be shamed evermore.