1 Blow a ram’s horn in Tsiyon, and sound an alarm in My set-apart mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the earth tremble, for the day of יהוה is coming, for it is near:
2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains – a people many and strong, the like of whom has never been, nor shall there ever be again after them, to the years of many generations.
3 Ahead of them a fire has consumed, and behind them a flame burns. Before them the land is like the Garden of Ěḏen, and behind them a desert waste. And from them there is no escape.
4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and they run like steeds.
5 As the noise of chariots they leap over mountaintops, as the noise of a flaming fire consuming stubble, as a mighty people set in battle array.
6 Before them peoples are in anguish, all faces become flushed.
7 They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of battle, every one goes on his way, and they do not break ranks.
8 And they do not press one another, every one goes in his path. They fall among the weapons, but they do not stop.
9 They rush on the city, they run on the wall. They climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief.
10 The earth shall tremble before them, the heavens shall shake. Sun and moon shall be darkened, and the stars withdraw their brightness.
11 And יהוה shall give forth His voice before His army, for His camp is very great, for mighty is the doer of His word. For the day of יהוה is great and very awesome, and who does bear it?
12 “Yet even now,” declares יהוה, “turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”
13 And tear your heart and not your garments, and turn back to יהוה your Elohim, for He shows favour and is compassionate, patient, and of great kindness, and He shall relent concerning the evil.
14 Who knows – He might turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him, a grain offering and a drink offering for יהוה your Elohim?
15 Blow a ram’s horn in Tsiyon, set apart a fast, call an assembly.
16 Gather the people, set the assembly apart, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes. Let a bridegroom come out from his room, and a bride from her dressing room.
17 Let the priests, servants of יהוה, weep between the porch and the altar. And let them say, “Spare Your people, O יהוה, and do not give Your inheritance to reproach, for the gentiles to rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their Elohim?’ ”
18 And let יהוה be jealous for His land, and spare His people.
19 And let יהוה answer and say to His people, “See, I am sending you the grain and the new wine and the oil, and you shall be satisfied by them. And no longer do I make you a reproach among the gentiles.
20 “And the Northerner I shall remove far from you, and drive him away into a dry and deserted land, with his face toward the eastern sea and his rear toward the western sea. And his stench shall come up and his smell rise, for he has done greatly.”
21 Do not fear, O soil, be glad and rejoice, for יהוה has done greatly!
22 Do not fear, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness shall spring forth, and the tree shall bear its fruit, the fig tree and the vine shall yield their strength.
23 And you children of Tsiyon, be glad and rejoice in יהוה your Elohim, for He shall give you the Teacher of Righteousness, and cause the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain, as before.
24 And the threshing-floors shall be filled with grain, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.
25 “Then I shall repay you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, and the consuming locust, and the gnawing locust, My great army which I sent among you.
26 “Then you shall eat – eat and be satisfied – and shall praise the Name of יהוה your Elohim, who has done with you so wondrously. And My people shall never be put to shame.
27 “And you shall know that I am in the midst of Yisra’ĕl, and that I am יהוה your Elohim and there is no one else. And My people shall never be put to shame.
28 “And after this it shall be that I pour out My Spirit on all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men dream dreams, your young men see visions.
29 “And also on the male servants and on the female servants I shall pour out My Spirit in those days.
30 “And I shall give signs in the heavens and upon the earth: blood and fire and columns of smoke,
31 the sun is turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of יהוה.
32 “And it shall be that everyone who calls on the Name of יהוה shall be delivered. For on Mount Tsiyon and in Yerushalayim there shall be an escape as יהוה has said, and among the survivors whom יהוה calls.