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 is near.
2 A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like dawn spreading over the mountains, a great and mighty people is coming. Nothing like it has ever happened, nor will anything like it happen again, through the years of generation after generation.
3 Fire devours in front of them, and flames burn behind them. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden; after them it is a desolate wasteland, and nothing escapes them.
4 They look like horses, and they run like horsemen.
5 With a sound like chariots, they leap over the mountain peaks; with a sound like a flame of fire devouring stubble, they come like a mighty people drawn up for battle.
6 At their presence, the peoples writhe in pain; every face turns pale.
7 They run like warriors; they climb the wall like men of war. Each goes along his own path, and they do not turn from their tracks.
8 They do not shove one another; each advances along his own way. They plunge through the weapons and are not broken.
9 They rush into the city, run along the wall, climb into the houses, and enter through the windows like a thief.
10 The earth quakes before them; the heavens shake. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars withdraw their brightness.
11 The LORD raises his voice before his army, for his camp is very large; mighty is the one who carries out his word. For the Day of the LORD is great and very terrifying—who can endure it?
12 “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”
13 Tear your hearts, not your clothes, and return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in steadfast love; he relents from bringing disaster.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him—a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God.
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; set apart a fast; call a solemn assembly.
16 Gather the people; consecrate the assembly. Bring together the elders; gather the children and those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy.
17 Between the portico and the altar, let the priests, the LORD’s ministers, weep and say, “Spare your people, LORD, and do not make your inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
18 Then the LORD became jealous for his land and had compassion on his people.
19 The LORD answered and said to his people, “Look, I am sending you grain, new wine, and fresh oil, and you will be satisfied with them. I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.
20 “I will drive the one from the north far from you and send him into a dry and desolate land, his vanguard toward the eastern sea and his rear guard toward the western sea. His stench will rise; his foul smell will rise, for he has done great things.”
21 Do not be afraid, land; rejoice and be glad, for the LORD has done great things.
22 Do not be afraid, animals of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness have turned green. The tree has borne its fruit; the fig tree and the vine have yielded their strength.
23 And you, children of Zion, rejoice and be glad in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rain as righteousness requires; he has sent down rain for you, the autumn rain and the spring rain, in the first month.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain, and the vats will overflow with new wine and fresh oil.
25 I will repay you for the years the locust has eaten—the swarming locust, the hopping locust, the destroying locust, and the cutting locust—my great army that I sent against you.
26 You will eat until you are satisfied, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has done wonders for you; my people will never again be put to shame.
27 You will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and there is no other. My people will never again be put to shame.
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