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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 afterwards says, God has answered ⁸⁸ There is no reason for rendering this in the past tense: it is in the same predicament with the verb, “will be jealous,” in the former verse, and ought to be rendered like it in the future time, “will answer.” The comment founded on this rendering, though true in itself, is yet too refined, and suits not this place. — Ed. and said to his people, Behold, I will send to you corn, wine, and oil. The Prophet does not here recite what had been done, but, on the contrary, declares, that God in future would be reconciled to them; as though he said, “I have hitherto been a herald of war, and bidden all to prepare themselves for the coming evil: but now I am a messenger to proclaim peace to you; if only you are resolved to turn to God, and to turn unfeignedly, I do now testify to you that God will be propitious to you; and as to your prayers know that they are already heard; that is, know that as soon as they were conceived, they were heard by the Lord.” Hence he says, He has answered; that is “If, moved by my exhortation, ye return with sincerity to God, he will meet you, nay, he has already met you; he waits not until ye have done all that ye ought to do; but when he bids you to come to his temple and to weep, he at the same time wipes off your tears, he removes every cause of sorrow and anxiety.” God, then, has answered; that is, “I am to you a certain and sufficient witness, that your prayers have been already accepted before God, though, as I have before reminded you, ye have not offered them.”

And, at the same time, he speaks of the effect, Behold, I will send to you corn, wine, and oil; and ye shall be satisfied. Here, by the effects, he proves that God would be propitious; for want of food was the first evidence of God’s displeasure, to be followed by the destruction which the Prophet had threatened. What does he say now? God will restore to you abundance of corn, wine, and oil; and he says further, I will not give you to the Gentiles for a reproach that they may rule over you

We now then apprehend the meaning of the Prophet; for he not only promises that God would be placable but also declares that he was already placable; and this he confirms by external tokens; for God would immediately remove the sins of his wrath, and turn them into blessings. Hence he says, ‘He will give you abundance of corn, wine, and oil, so as fully to satisfy you.’ As they had perceived that God was angry with them by the sterility of the land, and also by its produce being consumed by chafers, by locusts, and other animals or insects; so now the Lord would testify his love to them by the abounding fruitfulness of every thing. And then he joins another sentence, I will not give you any more for a reproach to the Gentiles. When he says, “any more,” he intimates that they had been before exposed to reproach; and we indeed know that they were then suffering many evils; but there remained that destruction of which we have heard. God does then here promise, that they should no more be subject to the reproaches of the Gentiles provided they repented; for the Prophet ever speaks conditionally. It now follows —