The Day of the Lord
1 qBlow a trumpet in Zion;
sound an alarm on rmy holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming; sit is near,
2 a day of tdarkness and gloom,
ua day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
a vgreat and powerful people;
wtheir like has never been before,
nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations.
3 Fire devours before them,
and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the garden of xEden before them,
but behind them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them.
4 yTheir appearance is like the appearance of horses,
and like war horses they run.
5 zAs with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
drawn up for battle.
6 Before them peoples are in anguish;
aall faces grow pale.
7 bLike warriors they charge;
like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
they do not swerve from their paths.
8 They do not jostle one another;
each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
and are not halted.
9 They leap upon the city,
they run upon the walls,
they climb up into the houses,
they enter through the windows like a thief.
10 The earth quakes before them;
the heavens tremble.
cThe sun and the moon are ddarkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
11 The Lord utters his voice
before his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
he who executes his word is powerful.
For the day of the Lord is egreat and very awesome;
fwho can endure it?
Return to the Lord
12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
g“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is hgracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and ihe relents over disaster.
14 jWho knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a kblessing behind him,
a lgrain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God?
15 mBlow the trumpet in Zion;
nconsecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16 gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
assemble the oelders;
gather the children,
even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
17 pBetween the vestibule and the altar
qlet the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
and make not your heritage a rreproach,
a byword among the nations.1
Why should they say among the peoples,
s‘Where is their God?’”
The Remnant of Israel
1 I ask, then, has God arejected his people? By no means! For bI myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,1 a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he cforeknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 d“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? e“I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a fremnant, chosen by grace. 6 But gif it is by grace, it is hno longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be igrace.
7 What then? Israel jfailed to obtain what it was seeking. The kelect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,
l“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
meyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”
9 And David says,
n“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and bend their backs forever.”
Gentiles Grafted In
11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass osalvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to pmake Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion2 mean!
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an qapostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus rsave some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the sreconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as tfirstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 uBut if some of the branches were broken off, and you, valthough a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root3 of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. wSo do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, xprovided you continue in his kindness. yOtherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
