1 Blow the horn in Zion; raise the battle cry on my holy mountain! Let all who live in the land shake, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is close at hand:
2 a day of darkness and deep gloom, a day of cloud and murky darkness. As dawn spreads across the mountains, so comes a people numerous and strong; never has its like been seen from of old, nor will it be again after it, for years to come, generation after generation.
3 Ahead of it fire consumes, and after it a flame blazes. The land ahead of it is like the garden of Eden; after it, a wasteland of ruin; and nothing gets away from it.
4 They look like horses, and they gallop like cavalry.
5 They bound over the mountaintops with a clatter like chariots, with a roar like a blaze of fire eating up stubble, like a strong people drawn up for battle.
6 Peoples are in agony at its approach; every face turns ashen.
7 Like mighty men they charge; like fighting men they scale the wall; each goes forward on his own course, and they never change their ranks.
8 They do not crowd each other; each one keeps to his own track; they fall upon the weapons yet are not cut short.
9 They rush upon the city, they race along the wall, they climb up into the houses; like a thief they come in through the windows.
10 Before them the earth shakes and the heavens quake; sun and moon turn dark, and the stars hold back their brightness.
11 The LORD raises his voice at the head of his army, for his camp is vast, and mighty is he who carries out his word. The day of the LORD is great and exceedingly fearful; who can bear it?
12 "Even now," declares the LORD, "turn back to me with your whole heart, with fasting, weeping and lament.
13 Tear your heart, not your clothing." Turn back to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and full of compassion, long-suffering and rich in steadfast love, and he relents from bringing harm.
14 Who can tell? He may turn and change his mind and leave behind him a blessing: grain offering and drink offering for the LORD your God.
15 Blow the horn in Zion; proclaim a holy fast; summon a sacred assembly.
16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly, bring together the elders, gather the little children and babies at the breast; let the bridegroom go out from his room and the bride from her bridal chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar and say, "Have pity on your people, O LORD; do not make your inheritance a disgrace, for the nations to rule over them. Why should it be said among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"
18 And the LORD was moved with jealousy for his land and took pity on his people.
19 The LORD answered his people: "I am about to send you grain, new wine and oil, and you will have your fill of them; never again will I make you a disgrace among the nations.
20 The northerner I will drive far from you and banish into a parched and desolate land, his vanguard into the eastern sea and his rear guard into the western sea. His stink will rise, his stench will go up, for he has done great things."
21 Have no fear, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done mighty things.
22 Do not be afraid, wild animals, for the wilderness pastures are turning green; the trees bear their fruit, and fig and vine yield their strength.
23 And you, children of Zion, rejoice and be glad in the LORD your God, for he has given you the early rain in righteousness, and has brought down rain for you, early rain and late rain, in the first month.
24 The threshing floors will be heaped with grain, and the presses will spill over with new wine and oil.
25 I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust ate, the creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust, my great army that I sent among you.
26 You will eat and eat until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has done wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.
27 And you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, that I am the LORD your God and there is no other; and my people will never be put to shame again.
28 After this I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh: your sons and daughters will prophesy; your old men will dream dreams; your young men will see visions.
29 Even on the menservants and the maidservants I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will set signs in the sky and on the earth: blood, fire and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun will turn to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the day of the LORD, great and fearsome.
32 Then whoever calls on the name of the LORD will escape; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be a rescued remnant, just as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.