aBlow a trumpet in Zion,
And make a loud shout on My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the bday of Yahweh is coming;
Surely it is near,
2 A day of adarkness and thick darkness,
A day of clouds and dense gloom.
As the dawn is spread over the mountains,
So there is a bnumerous and mighty people;
There has cnever been anything like it,
Nor will there be again after it
For the years from generation to generation.
3 A afire consumes before them,
And behind them a flame burns.
The land is blike the garden of Eden before them
But a cdesolate wilderness behind them,
And nothing at all escapes them.
4 Their aappearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like war horses, so they run.
5 With a anoise as of chariots
They leap on the tops of the mountains,
Like the crackling of a bflame of fire consumes the stubble,
Like a mighty people arranged for battle.
6 Before them the peoples are awrithing;
All bfaces turn pale.
7 They run like mighty men;
They climb up the wall like men of war;
And they each amarch in line,
And they do not deviate from their paths.
8 They do not crowd each other;
They march everyone in his path;
When they fall against the defending weapons,
They do not break ranks.
9 They rush on the city;
They run on the wall;
They climb up into the ahouses;
They benter through the windows like a thief.
10 Before them the earth atrembles;
The heavens quake;
The bsun and the moon grow dark,
And the stars lose their brightness.
11 But Yahweh agives forth His voice before bHis military force;
Surely His camp is very numerous,
For cmighty is he who does His word.
The dday of Yahweh is indeed great and very awesome,
And ewho can endure it?
Return to Yahweh
12 “Yet even now,” declares Yahweh,
“aReturn to Me with all your heart
And with bfasting, weeping, and wailing;
13 And atear your heart and not byour garments.”
Now return to Yahweh your God,
For He is cgracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness,
And drelenting concerning evil.
14 Who knows awhether He will not turn and relent
And leave a bblessing behind Him,
Even ca grain offering and a drink offering
For Yahweh your God?
15 aBlow a trumpet in Zion,
bSet apart a fast as holy, call for a solemn assembly,
16 Gather the people, aset apart the congregation as holy,
Assemble the elders,
Gather the infants and the nursing babies.
Let the bbridegroom come out of his room
And the bride out of her bridal chamber.
17 Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh,
Weep abetween the porch and the altar,
And let them say, “bPity Your people, O Yahweh,
And do not make Your inheritance a creproach,
A byword among the nations.
Why should they among the peoples say,
‘dWhere is their God?’”
Yahweh Will Spare His People
18 Then Yahweh will be azealous for His land
And will bspare His people.
19 Then Yahweh will answer and say to His people,
“Behold, I am going to asend you grain, new wine, and oil,
And you will be satisfied in full with them;
And I will bnever again make you a reproach among the nations.
20 But I will remove the anorthern military force far from you,
And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,
And its vanguard into the beastern sea,
And its rear guard into the cwestern sea.
And its dstench will rise up, and its foul smell will rise up,
For it has done great things.”
21 aDo not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad,
For Yahweh has done bgreat things.
22 Do not fear, beasts of the field,
For the apastures of the wilderness have turned green,
For the tree has borne its fruit;
The fig tree and the vine have yielded their full force.
23 So rejoice, O asons of Zion,
And bbe glad in Yahweh your God,
For He has cgiven you the early rain in righteousness.
And He has poured down for you the rain,
The early and dlate rains as before.
24 The threshing floors will be full of grain,
And the vats will aoverflow with the new wine and oil.
25 “Then I will pay back to you in full for the years
That the swarming alocust has consumed,
The creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust,
My great military force which I sent among you.
26 And you will have plenty to aconsume and be satisfied
And bpraise the name of Yahweh your God,
Who has cdealt wondrously with you;
Then My people will dnever be put to shame.
27 Thus you will aknow that I am in the midst of Israel,
And that I am Yahweh your God,
And there is bno other;
And My people will never be cput to shame.
Yahweh Will Pour Out His Spirit
28 “aAnd it will be afterwards
That I will bpour out My Spirit on all cmankind;
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy;
Your old men will dream dreams;
Your young men will see visions.
29 Even on the amale slaves and female slaves
I will in those days pour out My Spirit.
Deliverance in the Day of Yahweh
30 And I will aput wonders in the sky and on the earth,
Blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
31 The asun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood
Before the bgreat and awesome day of Yahweh comes.
32 And it will be that aeveryone who calls on the name of Yahweh
Will be delivered;
For bon Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
There will be those who cescape,
As Yahweh has said,
Even among the dsurvivors whom Yahweh calls.
Yahweh Will Judge the Nations
“For behold, ain those days and at that time,
When I brestore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will agather all the nations
And bring them down to the bvalley of Jehoshaphat.
Then I will center into judgment with them there
On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,
Whom they have dscattered among the nations;
And they have edivided up My land.
3 They have also acast lots for My people,
bTraded a boy for a harlot,
And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.
4 Moreover, what are you to Me, O aTyre, Sidon, and all the regions of bPhilistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will creturn your recompense on your head. 5 Since you have ataken My silver and My gold, brought My desirable treasures to your temples, 6 and sold the asons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks in order to remove them far from their borders, 7 behold, I am going to arouse them from the place where you have sold them and return your recompense on your head. 8 Also I will asell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the bSabeans, to a distant nation,” for Yahweh has spoken.
9 aCall out this message among the nations:
bSet yourselves apart for a war; crouse the mighty men!
Let all the men of war approach, let them come up!
10 aBeat your plowshares into swords
And your pruning hooks into spears;
bLet the weak say, “I am a mighty man.”
11 aHasten and come, all you surrounding nations,
And gather yourselves.
There, bring down, O Yahweh, Your bmighty ones.
12 Let the nations be roused up
And come up to the avalley of Jehoshaphat,
For there I will sit to bjudge
All the surrounding nations.
13 aSend in the sickle, for the bharvest is ripe.
Come, ctread, for the dwine press is full;
The vats overflow, for their eevil is great.
14 aMultitudes, multitudes in the bvalley of decision!
For the cday of Yahweh is near in the valley of decision.
15 The asun and moon grow dark,
And the stars lose their brightness.
16 And Yahweh aroars from Zion
And bgives forth His voice from Jerusalem,
And the cheavens and the earth quake.
But Yahweh is a drefuge for His people
And a estrong defense to the sons of Israel.
17 Then you will aknow that I am Yahweh your God,
Dwelling in Zion, My bholy mountain.
So Jerusalem will be choly,
And dstrangers will pass through it no more.
Yahweh Dwells in Zion
18 And it will be in that day,
That the amountains will drip with sweet wine,
And the hills will bflow with milk,
And all the cbrooks of Judah will flow with water;
And a dspring will go out from the house of Yahweh
To water the valley of Shittim.
19 Egypt will become a desolation,
And Edom will become a desolate wilderness,
Because of the aviolence done to the sons of Judah,
In whose land they have shed innocent blood.
20 But Judah will be ainhabited forever
And Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21 And I will aavenge their blood which I have not avenged,
Indeed, Yahweh dwells in Zion.