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¹⁵ Alas for the day!
For the day of the Lord is near,
   and as destruction from the Almighty^* it comes.
¹⁶ Is not the food cut off
   before our eyes,
joy and gladness
   from the house of our God?

¹⁷ The seed shrivels under the clods,^*
   the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are ruined
   because the grain has failed.
¹⁸ How the animals groan!
   The herds of cattle wander about
because there is no pasture for them;
   even the flocks of sheep are dazed.^*

¹⁹ To you, O Lord, I cry.
For fire has devoured
   the pastures of the wilderness,
and flames have burned
   all the trees of the field.
²⁰ Even the wild animals cry to you
   because the watercourses are dried up,
and fire has devoured
   the pastures of the wilderness.

2Blow the trumpet in Zion;
   sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
   for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near—
² a day of darkness and gloom,
   a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness spread upon the mountains
   a great and powerful army comes;
their like has never been from of old,
   nor will be again after them
   in ages to come.

³ Fire devours in front of them,
   and behind them a flame burns.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
   but after them a desolate wilderness,
   and nothing escapes them.

⁴ They have the appearance of horses,
   and like warhorses they charge.
⁵ As with the rumbling of chariots,
   they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
   devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
   drawn up for battle.

⁶ Before them peoples are in anguish,
   all faces grow pale.^*
7 Like warriors they charge,
   like soldiers they scale the wall.
Each keeps to its own course,
   they do not swerve from^* their paths.
⁸ They do not jostle one another,
   each keeps to its own track;
they burst through the weapons
   and are not halted.
⁹ They leap upon the city,
   they run upon the walls;
they climb up into the houses,
   they enter through the windows like a thief.

¹⁰ The earth quakes before them,
   the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
   and the stars withdraw their shining.
¹¹ The Lord utters his voice
   at the head of his army;
how vast is his host!
   Numberless are those who obey his command.
Truly the day of the Lord is great;
   terrible indeed—who can endure it?