CHAPTER 2

1 Sound the trumpet in Zion, make a proclamation in My holy mountain, and let all the inhabitants of the land be confounded: for the day of the Lord is near;

2  for a day of darkness and gloominess is near, a day of cloud and mist: a numerous and strong people shall be spread upon the mountains as the morning; there has not been from the beginning one like it, and after it there shall not be again, even to the years of many generations.

3  Before them is a consuming fire, and behind them is a flame kindled: the land before them is as a paradise of delight, and behind them a desolate plain: and none of them shall escape.

4  Their appearance is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they pursue.

5  As the sound of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, and as the sound of a flame of fire devouring stubble, and as a numerous and strong people setting themselves in array for battle.

6  Before them shall the people be crushed: every face shall be as the blackness of a caldron.

7  As warriors shall they run, and as men of war shall they mount on the walls; and each shall move in his right path, and they shall not turn aside from their tracks:

8  and not one shall stand aloof from his brother: they shall go on weighed down with their arms, and they fall upon their weapons, yet shall they in no way be destroyed.

9  They shall seize upon the city, and run upon the walls, and go up upon the houses, and enter in through the windows as thieves.

10  Before them the earth shall be confounded, and the sky shall be shaken: the sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their light.

11  And the Lord shall utter His voice before His army: for His camp is very great: for the execution of His words is mighty: for the day of the Lord is great, very glorious, and who shall be able to resist it?

12 Now therefore, says the Lord your God, turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with lamentation:

13  and rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for He is merciful and compassionate, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy, and repents of evils.

14  Who knows if He will return, and repent, and leave a blessing behind Him, even a grain offering and a drink offering to the Lord your God?

15  Sound the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, proclaim a solemn service:

16  gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the infants at the breast: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.

17  Between the porch and the altar let the priests that minister to the Lord weep, and say, Spare Your people, O Lord, and give not Your heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them, lest they should say among the heathen, Where is their God?

18 But the Lord was jealous of His land, and spared His people.

19  And the Lord answered and said to his people, Behold, I will send you grain, and wine, and oil, and you shall be satisfied with them: and I will no longer make you a reproach among the Gentiles.

20  And I will chase away from you the northern adversary, and will drive him away into a dry land, and I will sink his face in the former sea, and his back parts in the latter sea, and his stench shall come up, and his foul odor will rise, because he has worked great things.

21  Be of good courage, O land; rejoice and be glad: for the Lord has done great things.

22  Be of good courage, you beasts of the plain, for the plains of the wilderness have budded, for the trees have borne their fruit, the fig tree and the vine have yielded their strength.

23  Rejoice then and be glad, you children of Zion, in the Lord your God: for He has given you food fully, and He will rain on you the early and the latter rain, as before.

24  And the floors shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall overflow with wine and oil.

25  And I will recompense you for the years which the locust, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, and the cankerworm have eaten, even My great army, which I sent against you.

26  And you shall eat abundantly, and be satisfied, and shall praise the name of the Lord your God for the things which He has wrought wonderfully with you: and My people shall not be put to shame.

27  And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and that there is none else beside Me; and My people shall no more be ashamed for ever.

28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.

29  And on My servants and on My handmaids in those days will I pour out of My Spirit.

30  And I will show wonders in heaven, and upon the earth, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.

31  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord come.

32  And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall the saved one be as the Lord has said, and they that have glad tidings preached to them, whom the Lord has called.