The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 "Blow the shofar in Tziyon! Sound an alarm on my holy mountain!" Let all living in the land tremble, for the Day of ADONAI is coming! It's upon us!
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Let the horn be sounded in Zion, and a war-cry in my holy mountain; let all the people of the land be troubled: for the day of the Lord is coming;
2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick fog; a great and mighty horde is spreading like blackness over the mountains. There has never been anything like it, nor will there ever be again, not even after the years of many generations.
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For a day of dark and deep shade is near, a day of cloud and black night: like a black cloud a great and strong people is covering the mountains; there has never been any like them and will not be after them again, from generation to generation.
3 Ahead of them a fire devours, behind them a flame consumes; ahead the land is like Gan-'Eden, behind them a desert waste. From them there is no escape.
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Before them fire sends destruction, and after them flame is burning: the land is like the garden of Eden before them, and after them an unpeopled waste; truly, nothing has been kept safe from them.
4 They look like horses, and like cavalry they charge.
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Their form is like the form of horses, and they are running like war-horses.
5 With a rumble like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like crackling flames devouring stubble, like a mighty horde in battle array.
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Like the sound of war-carriages they go jumping on the tops of the mountains; like the noise of a flame of fire burning up the grain-stems, like a strong people lined up for the fight.
6 At their presence the peoples writhe in anguish, every face is drained of color.
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At their coming the people are bent with pain: all faces become red together.
7 Like warriors they charge, they scale the wall like soldiers. Each one keeps to his own course, without getting in the other's way.
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They are running like strong men, they go over the wall like men of war; every man goes straight on his way, their lines are not broken.
8 They don't jostle each other, but stay on their own paths; they burst through defenses unharmed, without even breaking rank.
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No one is pushing against another; everyone goes straight on his way: bursting through the sword points, their order is not broken.
9 They rush into the city, they run along the wall, they climb up into the houses, entering like a thief through the windows.
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They make a rush on the town, running on the wall; they go up into the houses and in through the windows like a thief.
10 At their advance the earth quakes, and the sky shakes, the sun and moon turn black, and the stars stop shining.
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The earth is troubled before them and the heavens are shaking: the sun and the moon have become dark, and the stars keep back their shining:
11 ADONAI shouts orders to his forces - his army is immense, mighty, and it does what he says. For great is the Day of ADONAI, fearsome, terrifying! Who can endure it?
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And the Lord is thundering before his forces; for very great is his army; for he is strong who gives effect to his word: for the day of the Lord is great and greatly to be feared, and who has strength against it?
12 "Yet even now," says ADONAI, "turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping and lamenting."
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But even now, says the Lord, come back to me with all your heart, keeping from food, with weeping and with sorrow:
13 Tear your heart, not your garments; and turn to ADONAI your God. For he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in grace, and willing to change his mind about disaster.
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Let your hearts be broken, and not your clothing, and come back to the Lord your God: for he is full of grace and pity, slow to be angry and great in mercy, ready to be turned from his purpose of punishment.
14 Who knows? He may turn, change his mind and leave a blessing behind him, [enough for] grain offerings and drink offerings to present to ADONAI your God.
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May it not be that he will again let his purpose be changed and let a blessing come after him, even a meal offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?
15 "Blow the shofar in Tziyon! Proclaim a holy fast, call for a solemn assembly."
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Let a horn be sounded in Zion, let a time be fixed for going without food, have a holy meeting:
16 Gather the people; consecrate the congregation; assemble the leaders; gather the children, even infants sucking at the breast; let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride the bridal chamber.
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Get the people together, make the mass of the people holy, send for the old men, get together the children and babies at the breast: let the newly married man come out of his room and the bride from her tent.
17 Let the cohanim, who serve ADONAI, stand weeping between the vestibule and the altar. Let them say, "Spare your people, ADONAI! Don't expose your heritage to mockery, or make them a byward among the Goyim. Why should the peoples say, 'Where is their God?'"
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Let the priests, the servants of the Lord, be weeping between the covered way and the altar, and let them say, Have mercy on your people, O Lord, do not give up your heritage to shame, so that the nations become their rulers: why let them say among the peoples, Where is their God?
18 Then ADONAI will become jealous for his land and have pity on his people.
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Then the Lord had a care for the honour of his land and had pity on his people.
19 Here is how ADONAI will answer his people: "I will send you grain, wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you; and no longer will I make you a mockery among the Goyim.
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And the Lord made answer and said to his people, See, I will send you grain and wine and oil in full measure: and I will no longer let you be shamed among the nations:
20 No, I will take the northerner away, far away from you, and drive him to a land that is waste and barren; with his vanguard toward the eastern sea and his rearguard toward the western sea, his stench and his rottenness will rise, because he has done great things."
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I will send the one from the north far away from you, driving him into a dry and waste land, with his front to the sea of the east and his back to the sea of the west, and the smell of him will go up, even his evil smell will go up.
21 Don't fear, O soil; be glad! rejoice! for ADONAI has done great things.
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Have no fear, O land; be glad with great joy; for the Lord has done great things.
22 Don't be afraid, wild animals; for the desert pastures are green, the trees are putting out their fruit, the fig tree and vine are giving full yield.
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Have no fear, you beasts of the field, for the grass-lands of the waste are becoming green, for the trees are producing fruit, the fig-tree and the vine give out their strength.
23 Be glad, people of Tziyon! rejoice in ADONAI your God! For he is giving you the right amount of rain in the fall, he makes the rain come down for you, the fall and spring rains - this is what he does first.
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Be glad, then, you children of Zion, and have joy in the Lord your God: for he gives you food in full measure, making the rain come down for you, the early and the late rain as at the first.
24 Then the floors will be full of grain and the vats overflow with wine and olive oil.
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And the floors will be full of grain, and the crushing-places overflowing with wine and oil.
25 "I will restore to you the years that the locusts ate, the grasshoppers, shearer-worms and cutter-worms, my great army that I sent against you.
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I will give back to you the years which were food for the locust, the plant-worm, the field-fly, and the worm, my great army which I sent among you.
26 You will eat until you are satisfied and will praise the name of ADONAI your God, who has done with you such wonders. Then my people will never again be shamed.
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You will have food in full measure, and give praise to the name of the Lord your God, who has done wonders for you:
27 You will know that I am with Isra'el and that I am ADONAI your God, and that there is no other. Then my people will never again be shamed.
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And you will be certain that I am in Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other: and my people will never be shamed.
28 "After this, I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions;
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And after that, it will come about, says the Lord, that I will send my spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will be prophets, your old men will have dreams, your young men will see visions:
29 and also on male and female slaves in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
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And on the servants and the servant-girls in those days I will send my spirit.
30 I will show wonders in the sky and on earth - blood, fire and columns of smoke.
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And I will let wonders be seen in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and terrible Day of ADONAI."
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The sun will be made dark and the moon turned to blood, before the great day of the Lord comes, a day to be feared.
32 At that time, whoever calls on the name of ADONAI will be saved. For in Mount Tziyon and Yerushalayim there will be those who escape, as ADONAI has promised; among the survivors will be those whom ADONAI has called.
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And it will be that whoever makes his prayer to the name of the Lord will be kept safe: for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem some will be kept safe, as the Lord has said, and will be among the small band marked out by the Lord.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.