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2. An Army of Locusts

1 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
   sound the alarm on my holy hill.

   Let all who live in the land tremble,
   for the day of the LORD is coming.
It is close at hand—
    2 a day of darkness and gloom,
   a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
   a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times
   nor ever will be in ages to come.

    3 Before them fire devours,
   behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
   behind them, a desert waste—
   nothing escapes them.
4 They have the appearance of horses;
   they gallop along like cavalry.
5 With a noise like that of chariots
   they leap over the mountaintops,
like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
   like a mighty army drawn up for battle.

    6 At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
   every face turns pale.
7 They charge like warriors;
   they scale walls like soldiers.
They all march in line,
   not swerving from their course.
8 They do not jostle each other;
   each marches straight ahead.
They plunge through defenses
   without breaking ranks.
9 They rush upon the city;
   they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses;
   like thieves they enter through the windows.

    10 Before them the earth shakes,
   the heavens tremble,
the sun and moon are darkened,
   and the stars no longer shine.
11 The LORD thunders
   at the head of his army;
his forces are beyond number,
   and mighty is the army that obeys his command.
The day of the LORD is great;
   it is dreadful.
   Who can endure it?

Rend Your Heart

    12 “Even now,” declares the LORD,
   “return to me with all your heart,
   with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

    13 Rend your heart
   and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
   for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
   and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent
   and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
   for the LORD your God.

    15 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
   declare a holy fast,
   call a sacred assembly.
16 Gather the people,
   consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
   gather the children,
   those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
   and the bride her chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
   weep between the portico and the altar.
Let them say, “Spare your people, LORD.
   Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
   a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
   ‘Where is their God?’”

The LORD’s Answer

    18 Then the LORD was jealous for his land
   and took pity on his people.

    19 The LORD replied Or LORD will be jealous … / and take pity … / The LORD will reply to them:

   “I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil,
   enough to satisfy you fully;
never again will I make you
   an object of scorn to the nations.

    20 “I will drive the northern horde far from you,
   pushing it into a parched and barren land;
its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea
   and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea.
And its stench will go up;
   its smell will rise.”

   Surely he has done great things!
    21 Do not be afraid, land of Judah;
   be glad and rejoice.
Surely the LORD has done great things!
    22 Do not be afraid, you wild animals,
   for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green.
The trees are bearing their fruit;
   the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.
23 Be glad, people of Zion,
   rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given you the autumn rains
   because he is faithful.
He sends you abundant showers,
   both autumn and spring rains, as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
   the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

    25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
   the great locust and the young locust,
   the other locusts and the locust swarm The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.—
my great army that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
   and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,
   who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
27 Then you will know that I am in Israel,
   that I am the LORD your God,
   and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.

The Day of the LORD

    28 “And afterward,
   I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
   your old men will dream dreams,
   your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
   I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
   and on the earth,
   blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
   and the moon to blood
   before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
32 And everyone who calls
   on the name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
   there will be deliverance,
   as the LORD has said,
even among the survivors
   whom the LORD calls. In Hebrew texts 2:28-32 is numbered 3:1-5.

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In this verse he more fully confirms the Jews, that they might not be afraid of reproach from the Gentiles. It may have been that the Assyrians were now in readiness, prepared for war; it was then difficult to free the Jews from every fear. The Prophet had said generally that they would be no more subject to the mockeries of the Gentiles; but yet fear could not but be felt by them. “We see the Assyrians already armed; and what can we expect but to be devoured by them? for we are not able to resist them.” Anxiety then must have constantly tormented the Jews, had he not distinctly and in express words declared, “It is in God’s power to drive away the Assyrians, and to confound all their attempts.” The Prophet, therefore, is now on this subject. The Northlander, 99     Dr. Henderson agrees with Calvin in rendering this word, Northern or Highlander, and quotes Coverdale as rendering it, Him of the North. He considers this word as of “prime importance in the interpretation of this prophecy.” Locusts visited Palestine not from the north, but from the south. “That, however,” he adds, “which determines the question, is the addition of the patronymic י to צפון, indicating that the North was not merely the quarter whence the subject of the discourse came, but that its native country lay to the North of Palestine; just as התימני, the Temanite, means the Southern, etc. — Ed. he says, will I remove far from you. The Chaldeans and the Assyrians, we know, were northward of Judea. He then means here by the North those enemies, whose preparations terrified the Jews. Hence he says, I will drive them from you, and drive them far into a land of desert and of drought 1010     Literally, “Into a land dry and desolate.” — Ed. . By these words he intimates, that though furnished with the greatest forces, and gaping for the land of Judea, and ready in their cupidity to devour it, the Syrians would yet return home without effecting anything; I will cast them into a desert land. In vain, he says, they covet your abundance, and desire to satisfy themselves with the fertility of your land; for I will drive them and their dread away.

He then adds, His face to the east sea, and his rear to the hindmost sea; that is, I will scatter them here and there, so that his front shall be to one sea, (supposed to be the Salt Sea,) and his extremity to the hindermost sea, which was doubtless the Mediterranean: for the Salt Sea was east to the Jews, that is, it lies, as it is well known, towards the east. We now perceive in part what the Prophet means. But it must, at the same time, be added, that the Prophet removes fear from the Jews, which occupied their minds by observing the power of the Assyrians so great and extensive. “What is to be done? though God is present with us, and protects us by his help, yet how will he resist the Assyrians, for that army will fill the land”. “God will yet find means,” says the Prophet; “though the Assyrians should occupy the whole land, from the Salt or the East Sea to the Meridian or Mediterranean Sea, yet will God drive away this vast multitude: there is no reason then that ye should fear.” Hence the Prophet has designedly set forth how terrible the Assyrian forces would be, that he might show that they could not be resisted, unless the Lord should disperse them and disappoint all their efforts. At last he adds, And his ill savor shall ascend: but I am not able to finish to-day.
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