1Blow the ram's horn in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain!" Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD comes, for it is near at hand--

2A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness. As the morning is spread across the mountains, so comes a great people and a mighty people; there has never been the like, nor shall there ever be again, even to the years of many generations.

3A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness--and nothing shall escape them.

4Their appearance is as the appearance of horses; and as war horses, so they run.

5They shall leap with the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains, with the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, like a mighty people set in battle array.

6In their presence the people shall greatly tremble; all faces shall grow pale.

7They shall run like mighty men. They shall climb the wall like men of war, and they shall march each one in his path, and they shall not break their ranks.

8And each one shall not crowd another; they go every one in his own path. And when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.

9They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall; they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

10The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble. The sun and the moon shall grow dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

11And the LORD shall utter His voice before His army; for His camp is exceedingly great; for powerful is He who executes His Word, for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can endure it?

12"Therefore even now," says the LORD, "turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.

13Yes, rend your heart and not your garments, and return to the LORD your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and He repents of the evil.

14Who knows if He will return and repent and leave a blessing behind Him--a grain offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?"

15Blow a ram's horn in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly.

16Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and those who suck the breasts. Let the bridegroom go forth out of his chamber, and the bride out of her room.

17Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD, and give not Your inheritance to shame, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the people, 'Where is their God?' "

18Then the LORD will be jealous for His land and pity His people.

19Yea, the LORD will answer and say to His people, "Behold, I will send you grain, and wine, and oil, and you shall be satisfied with them. And I will no more make you a curse among the nations.

20But I will remove the northern army far off from you, and will drive him into a barren and deserted land, with his face toward the eastern sea and his back toward the western sea. And his stench shall come up, and his rotten odor shall come up because he has magnified his deeds.

21Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD will magnify his deeds.

22Do not be afraid, beasts of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness grow green; for the tree bears its fruit, and the fig tree and the vine yield their strength.

23Be glad then, children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for He has given you the former rain in just measure, and He will cause the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain as before.

24And the threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

25And I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten, the locust larvae, and the destroying locust, and the cutting locust, My great army which I sent among you.

26And you shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt with you wondrously; and My people shall never again be ashamed.

27And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and there is none else; and My people shall never again be ashamed.

28And afterward it shall be that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams; your young men shall see visions.

29And also I will pour out My Spirit upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days.

30And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth--blood and fire and pillars of smoke.

31The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.

32And it shall be that whoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be saved; for salvation shall be in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, as the LORD has said, and among the remnant whom the LORD shall call."