4. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,and like war horses they run.
5. As with the rumbling of chariots,they leap on the tops of the mountains,like the crackling of a flame of firedevouring the stubble, like a powerful armydrawn 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.They march each on his way;they do not swerve from their paths.
8. They do not jostle one another; each marches in his path;they burst through the weaponsand 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 voicebefore his army,for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it?
12. “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13. and rend your hearts and not your garments.”Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful,slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
14. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offeringfor the Lord your God?
15. Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast;call a solemn assembly;
16. gather the people. Consecrate the congregation;assemble the elders; gather the children,even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room,and the bride her chamber.
17. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weepand say, “Spare your people, O Lord,and make not your heritage a reproach,a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples,‘Where is their God?’”
18. Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.