2  ^bHear this, you elders;

give ear, all inhabitants of the land!

^cHas such a thing happened in your days,

or in the days of your fathers?

3  ^dTell your children of it,

and let your children tell their children,

and their children to another generation.

4  ^eWhat the cutting locust left,

the swarming locust has eaten.

What the swarming locust left,

the hopping locust has eaten,

and what the hopping locust left,

the destroying locust has eaten.

5  Awake, you drunkards, and weep,

and wail, all you drinkers of wine,

because of the sweet wine,

for it is cut off from your mouth.

6  For a ^fnation has come up against my land,

powerful and beyond number;

^gits teeth are lions’ teeth,

and it has the fangs of a lioness.

7  It has laid waste my vine

and splintered my fig tree;

it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;

their branches are made white.

8  Lament like a virgin¹ wearing sackcloth

for the bridegroom of her youth.

9  The ^hgrain offering and the drink offering are cut off

from the house of the Lord.

ⁱThe priests mourn,

the ministers of the Lord.

10  The fields are destroyed,

^jthe ground mourns,

because the grain is destroyed,

the wine dries up,

the oil languishes.

11  ^kBe ashamed,² O tillers of the soil;

wail, O vinedressers,

for the wheat and the barley,

because the harvest of the field has perished.

12  The vine dries up;

the fig tree languishes.

Pomegranate, palm, and apple,

all the trees of the field are dried up,

and gladness dries up

from the children of man.

13  ^lPut on sackcloth and lament, O priests;

wail, O ministers of the altar.

Go in, pass the night in sackcloth,

O ministers of my God!

Because grain offering and drink offering

are withheld from the house of your God.

14  ^mConsecrate a fast;

call a solemn assembly.

Gather the elders

and all the inhabitants of the land

to the house of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

15  Alas for the day!

ⁿFor the ^oday of the Lord is near,

and as destruction from the Almighty³ it comes.

16  Is not the food cut off

before our eyes,

joy and gladness

from the house of our God?

17  The seed shrivels under the clods;⁴

the storehouses are desolate;

the granaries are torn down

because the grain has dried up.

18  How the beasts groan!

The herds of cattle are perplexed

because there is no pasture for them;

even the flocks of sheep suffer.⁵

19  To you, O Lord, I call.

For fire has devoured

the ^ppastures of the wilderness,

and flame has burned

all the trees of the field.

20  Even the beasts of the field pant for you

because the water brooks are dried up,

and fire has devoured

the pastures of the wilderness.

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?

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.⁶

Why should they say among the peoples,

^s‘Where is their God?’”

18  Then the Lord became ^tjealous for his land

and had pity on his people.

19  The Lord answered and said to his people,

“Behold, I am sending to you

^ugrain, wine, and oil,

and you will be satisfied;

and I will no more make you

a reproach among the nations.

20  “I will remove the northerner far from you,

and drive him into a parched and desolate land,

his vanguard⁷ into the ^veastern sea,

and his rear guard⁸ into the ^wwestern sea;

the ^xstench and foul smell of him will rise,

for he has done great things.

21  “Fear not, O land;

be glad and rejoice,

for ^ythe Lord has done great things!

22  Fear not, you ^zbeasts of the field,

for the ^apastures of the wilderness are green;

the tree bears its fruit;

the ^bfig tree and vine give their full yield.

23  “Be glad, O children of Zion,

and rejoice in the Lord your God,

for he has given the early rain for your vindication;

he has poured down for you abundant rain,

^cthe early and the latter rain, as before.

24  “The threshing floors shall be full of grain;

the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

25  I will restore⁹ to you the years

that the ^dswarming locust has eaten,

the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,

^emy great army, which I sent among you.

26  “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,

and praise the name of the Lord your God,

who has dealt wondrously with you.

And my people shall never again be put to shame.

27  You shall know that I am ^fin the midst of Israel,

and ^gthat I am the Lord your God and there is none else.

And my people shall never again be put to shame.

28  ^{10 h}“And it shall come to pass afterward,

that ⁱI will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;

^jyour sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

your old men shall dream dreams,

and your young men shall see visions.

29  Even on the male and female servants

in those days I will pour out my Spirit.