¹ Blow the ram's-horn in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let everybody in the country tremble, for the Day of Yahweh is coming, yes, it is near.

² Day of darkness and gloom, Day of cloud and blackness. Like the dawn, across the mountains spreads a vast and mighty people, such as has never been before, such as will never be again to the remotest ages.

³ In their van a fire devours, in their rear a flame consumes. The country is like a garden of Eden ahead of them and a desert waste behind them. Nothing escapes them.

⁴ They look like horses, like chargers they gallop on,

⁵ with a racket like that of chariots they spring over the mountain tops, with a crackling like a blazing fire devouring the stubble, a mighty army in battle array.

⁶ At the sight of them, people are appalled and every face grows pale.

⁷ Like fighting men they press forward, like warriors they scale the walls, each marching straight ahead, not turning from his path;

⁸ they never jostle each other, each marches straight ahead: arrows fly, they still press forward, never breaking ranks.

⁹ They hurl themselves at the city, they leap onto the walls, swarm up the houses, getting in through the windows like thieves.

¹⁰ As they come on, the earth quakes, the skies tremble, sun and moon grow dark, the stars lose their brilliance.

¹¹ Yahweh's voice rings out at the head of his troops! For mighty indeed is his army, strong, the enforcer of his orders, for great is the Day of Yahweh, and very terrible -- who can face it?

¹² 'But now -- declares Yahweh- come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning.'

¹³ Tear your hearts and not your clothes, and come back to Yahweh your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, and he relents about inflicting disaster.

¹⁴ Who knows if he will not come back, relent and leave a blessing behind him, a cereal offering and a libation to be presented to Yahweh your God?

¹⁵ Blow the ram's-horn in Zion! Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,

¹⁶ call the people together, summon the community, assemble the elders, gather the children, even infants at the breast! Call the bridegroom from his bedroom and the bride from her bower!

¹⁷ Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, stand weeping between portico and altar, saying, 'Spare your people, Yahweh! Do not expose your heritage to the contempt, to the sarcasm of the nations! Why give the peoples cause to say, "Where is their God?" '

¹⁸ Then, becoming jealous over his country, Yahweh took pity on his people.

¹⁹ Yahweh said in answer to his people, 'Now I shall send you wheat, wine and olive oil until you have enough. Never again will I expose you to the contempt of the nations.

²⁰ I shall take the northerner far away from you and drive him into an arid, desolate land, his vanguard to the eastern sea, his rearguard to the western sea. He will give off a stench, he will give off a foul stink (for what he made bold to do).'

²¹ Land, do not be afraid; be glad, rejoice, for Yahweh has done great things.

²² Wild animals, do not be afraid; the desert pastures are green again, the trees bear fruit, vine and fig tree yield their richness.

²³ Sons of Zion, be glad, rejoice in Yahweh your God; for he has given you autumn rain as justice demands, and he will send the rains down for you, the autumn and spring rain as of old.

²⁴ The threshing-floors will be full of grain, the vats overflow with wine and oil.

²⁵ 'I will make up to you for the years devoured by grown locust and hopper, by shearer and young locust, my great army which I sent to invade you.

²⁶ 'You will eat to your heart's content, and praise the name of Yahweh your God who has treated you so wonderfully. (My people will never be humiliated again!)

²⁷ 'And you will know that I am among you in Israel, I, Yahweh your God, and no one else. My people will never be humiliated again!'

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The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) is a Catholic translation of the Bible published in 1985. The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) has become the most widely used Roman Catholic Bible outside of the United States. It has the imprimatur of Cardinal George Basil Hume.

Like its predecessor, the Jerusalem Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) version is translated "directly from the Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic." The 1973 French translation, the Bible de Jerusalem, is followed only "where the text admits to more than one interpretation." Introductions and notes, with some modifications, are taken from the Bible de Jerusalem.

Source: The Very Reverend Dom (Joseph) Henry Wansbrough, OSB, MA (Oxon), STL (Fribourg), LSS (Rome), a monk of Ampleforth Abbey and a biblical scholar. He was General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. "New Jerusalem Bible, Regular Edition", pg. v.

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