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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.

He now concludes what he has hitherto said of God’s blessing. As the Jews were starving while God was offended, so he promises that when reconciled to him they should have abundance of produce from the land: Ye shall eat plentifully, he says, and satisfy yourselves. But he mentions also their gratitude; for it was an evidence of true repentance when they praised the name of God, whom they understood to be the giver of their abundance; for he had before proved that the land was under his power, when he consumed its whole substance, so that none of it came to supply the wants of man. Hence the Prophet exhorts them to give thanks, that they might thus declare that they from the heart repented. Ye shall then praise the name of Jehovah your God”. Why? “Because he will deal with you wonderfully. He takes away here every plea for ignorance. We know how difficult it is to lead men to do this act of religion, for which we yet confess that we were born; for what is more natural than to acknowledge God’s bounty towards us, when we enjoy many blessings? But yet, though God in various ways stimulates us, he cannot draw from us genuine gratitude. This is the reason why the Prophet now says, “God will deal with you wonderfully: though ye are stupid, God will yet by his power awaken you; for he will not deal with you in a common way.” He then mentions something miraculous, that he might leave to the Jews no excuse, in case they considered not God’s bounty and perceived not in this change, first, what they had deserved and then how merciful God had been to them: for this change could not have been ascribed to chance; nor was it a common thing, that when the Jews had been for four successive years nearly consumed with wants and when the enemy was at hand, they should see the land now fruitful, that they should see it freed from destructive insects, that they should be also at peace, and not disturbed by the dread of any foreign enemy. Since the Lord, then, would beyond hope give them a serene instead of a turbulent sky, should not such a wonderful change deeply affect them? This is what the Prophet now means, — “As the Lord will deal with you wonderfully, there will be no excuse for your torpidity, if ye will not be diligent in praising his name.”

Not ashamed, he says, shall my people be for ever. The Jews are here reminded by implication of their former disgrace; for they had been greatly confounded; though enemies touched them not, no, not even with their finger, they yet died through famine; an enemy was also prepared, as we have seen, to destroy them. They were therefore frightened with dread, and also perplexed with their own evils, by which God had almost worn them out. The Prophet says now, My people shall not be ashamed for ever, intimating that God would at length relieve his people from their evils, that they might not, as hitherto, be ashamed. He at last subjoins —