[2:1] Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
[2:2] a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.
[2:3] Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them.
[2:4] Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run.
[2:5] As 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.
[2:6] Before them peoples are in anguish; all faces grow pale.
[2:7] Like warriors they charge; like soldiers they scale the wall. They march each on his way; they do not swerve from their paths.
[2:8] They do not jostle one another; each marches in his path; they burst through the weapons and are not halted.
[2:9] They leap upon the city, they run upon the walls, they climb up into the houses, they enter through the windows like a thief.
[2:10] The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
[2:11] 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 great and very awesome; who can endure it?