¹ Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of Jehovah cometh, for it is at hand;

² a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and gross darkness, as the dawn spread upon the mountains; -- a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after them, to the years of generations and generations.

³ A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth; the land is as a garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness: yea, and nothing escapeth them.

⁴ The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so they run.

⁵ Like the noise of chariots, on the tops of the mountains, they leap; like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

⁶ Before them the peoples are in anguish: all faces turn pale.

⁷ They run like mighty men; they climb the wall like men of war; and they march every one on his ways, and break not their ranks.

⁸ Neither doth one press upon another; they march every one in his path; and fall amid weapons, but are not wounded.

⁹ They spread themselves over the city; they run upon the wall; they climb up into the houses; they enter in by the windows like a thief.

¹⁰ The earth quaketh before them; the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

¹¹ And Jehovah uttereth his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for strong is he that executeth his word: for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can bear it?

¹² Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning;

¹³ and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving-kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

¹⁴ Who knoweth? He might return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, an oblation and a drink-offering for Jehovah your God?

¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion, hallow a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly;

¹⁶ gather the people, hallow the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride from her closet.

¹⁷ Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare, O Jehovah, thy people, and give not thine inheritance to reproach, that they should be a byword of the nations. Wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?

¹⁸ Then Jehovah will be jealous for his land, and will have pity on his people.

¹⁹ And Jehovah will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I send you corn, and new wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

²⁰ And I will remove far off from you him [that cometh] from the north, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, his face toward the eastern sea, and his rear toward the hinder sea; and his stench shall come up, and his ill odour shall come up, for he hath exalted himself to do great things.

²¹ -- Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for Jehovah doeth great things.

²² Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring; for the tree beareth its fruit; the fig-tree and the vine yield full increase.

²³ And ye, children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in Jehovah your God; for he giveth you the early rain in due measure, and he causeth to come down for you the rain, the early rain, and the latter rain at the beginning [of the season].

²⁴ And the floors shall be full of corn, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.

²⁵ And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you.

²⁶ And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of Jehovah your God, who hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

²⁷ And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, Jehovah, [am] your God, and there is none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

²⁸ And it shall come to pass afterwards [that] I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

²⁹ Yea, even upon the bondmen and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.

³⁰ And I will shew wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

³¹ The sun shall be changed to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come.

³² And it shall be that whosoever shall call upon the name of Jehovah shall be saved: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as Jehovah hath said, and for the residue whom Jehovah shall call.

¹ Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab:

² for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods; and the people ate, and bowed down to their gods.

³ Israel joined himself to Baal Peor: and the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel.

⁴ Yahweh said to Moses, "Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up to Yahweh before the sun, that the fierce anger of Yahweh may turn away from Israel."

⁵ Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Everyone kill his men who have joined themselves to Baal Peor."

⁶ Behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

⁷ When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand;

⁸ and he went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.

⁹ Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

¹⁰ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

¹¹ "Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn't consume the children of Israel in my jealousy.

¹² Therefore say, 'Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace:

¹³ and it shall be to him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.'"

¹⁴ Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers' house among the Simeonites.

¹⁵ The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a fathers' house in Midian.

¹⁶ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁷ "Harass the Midianites, and strike them;

¹⁸ for they harassed you with their wiles, with which they have deceived you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor."