2:1 Blow the trumpet 1 in Zion;
sound the alarm signal on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land shake with fear,
for the day of the Lord is about to come.
Indeed, 2 it is near! 3
2:2 It will be 4 a day of dreadful darkness, 5
a day of foreboding storm clouds, 6
like blackness 7 spread over the mountains.
It is a huge and powerful army 8 –
there has never been anything like it ever before,
and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! 9
2:3 Like fire they devour everything in their path; 10
a flame blazes behind them.
The land looks like the Garden of Eden 11 before them,
but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness –
for nothing escapes them! 12
2:4 They look like horses; 13
they charge ahead like war horses.