2:1 Blast a ram’s horn in Zion,
raise a roar on My holy hill,
shudder, all you dwellers of the land,
for Yahweh’s day is coming, it is near —
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of cloud and fume.
As the dawn unfurls over the hills,
a force great and profuse,
whose like has never been for all time,
and in their wake will never be mustered,
for years, from age to age.
3 Before them fire eats up
and in their wake firestorms blaze.
Like Eden’s garden is the land before them,
and in their wake, a wasteland, a horror,
and any escape there shall not be.
4 For their looks are like horses’ looks,
and like horsemen they run,
5 with the noise of chariots on the hilltops hurtling,
with the noise of flame, fire eating up brush,
like a force profuse, arrayed for battle.
6 Before them peoples quail,
every face blanches and darkens.
7 Like warriors they run,
like men of battle, climb up the wall.
And each on his own way goes,
and turns not aside from his course,
8 and each his fellow never jostles,
each man in his tracks does go.
And when they charge through the blade-lines,
they are not finished off.
9 To the town they lay siege,
upon its wall they run,
into its homes they go.
10 Before them the land shudders,
the heavens shiver,
sunlight and moonlight are dulled,
and constellations hoard their radiance.
11 And Yahweh releases His voice before His force,
for very great is His encampment,
for profuse are His word’s doers,
for great is Yahweh’s day,
and very fearsome,
and who can endure it?
12 Yet even now Yahweh declares:
“Turn back to me with your whole heart,
with fasting and weeping and keening,
13 and rend your hearts and not your garments,
and turn back to Yahweh your God,
for gracious and compassionate is He,
slow to wrath, with great loyal love,
and relenting of ruin.
14 Who can know, He may turn back and relent
and leave in His wake a blessing,
a gift and libation for Yahweh our God.
15 Blast a ram’s horn in Zion,
consecrate a fast,
announce the occasion,
16 gather the folk,
consecrate the crowd,
assemble the elders,
gather the infants
and the suckling babies,
let the bridegroom come forth from his chamber
and the bride from her bower,
17 between the vestibule and the alter
let the priests weep,
Yahweh’s ministrants,
and say: “Take pity, Yahweh, on Your folk,
and make not Your inheritance a reproach
for the nations to rule,
for why should they say among the folk,
‘Where is their God?’”
18 And Yahweh showed zeal for His land,
and empathy for His folk,
19 and Yahweh answered and said to His folk:
“Look! I am sending you grain
and fresh wine and olive oil,
and you will be sated,
and never will I make you once more
a reproach among the nations.
20 And the northerner I will remove from over you,
and I will banish him to a parched land, a horror,
his face to the eastern sea,
and his back to the western sea,
and his stench will rise,
and his reek will rise,”
for He has wrought greatly.
21 Do not fear, O soil,
revel and rejoice,
for greatly has Yahweh wrought.
22 Do not fear, O beasts of the field,
for wasteland pastures have greened,
the tree bears its fruit,
the fig tree and grape vine yield with full force.
23 And Zion’s sons: revel and rejoice in Yahweh your God,
for He immersed you for righteousness,
and He dispatched for you rains,
and spring rains, as at first.
24 And the granaries will be full of grain,
and the wine-vats brim over with new wine and olive oil.
25 “And I will restore to you the years
which the swarming locust ate up,
the hopping and chomping and gnawing locusts,
My great force that I sent forth upon you.
26 And you will eat and feast and be sated
and celebrate the name of Yahweh your God
Who wrought wondrously with you.
And never will My folk be shamed for all time,
27 and you will know that in Israel’s midst am I,
and I am Yahweh your God, and no one else,
and never will my folk be shamed for all time.”
3:1 And it will happen in its wake:
“I will pour out My breath upon all bodies,
and your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
your old men dream dreams,
your young men see visions —
even upon your servants
2 and upon your maidservants
in those days will I pour out My breath.
3 And I will give omens
in the heavens and on the earth —
blood and fire and columns of smoke;
4 the sun will turn dark,
and the moon to blood,
before it comes—”
Yahweh’s day, great and fearsome.
5 And it will happen:
all who call on Yahweh’s name will escape,
for on Zion’s hill and in Jerusalem
there will be those who escape,
as befits the utterance of Yahweh
and the survivors whom Yahweh calls.