(4:1) ¹  For look! In those ²  days and at that time I will return the exiles ³  to Judah and Jerusalem. ⁴ 

No one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple ¹  of the Lord anymore. ²  So the priests, those who serve the Lord, are in mourning.

Lend your aid ¹  and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves ²  to that place.” Bring down, O Lord, your warriors! ³ 

Citizens of Zion, ¹  rejoice! Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done! ²  For he has given to you the early rains ³  as vindication. He has sent ⁴  to you the rains – both the early and the late rains ⁵  as formerly.

Listen to the cattle groan! ¹  The herds of livestock wander around in confusion ²  because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

Egypt will be desolate and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, ¹  in whose land they shed innocent blood.

You will be convinced that I am in the midst of Israel. I am the Lord your God; there is no other. My people will never again be put to shame.

Get dressed ¹  and lament, you priests! Wail, you who minister at the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God, because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of your God anymore. ² 

Listen to this, you elders; ¹  pay attention, ²  all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life ³  or in the lifetime ⁴  of your ancestors? ⁵ 

For a nation ¹  has invaded ²  our ³  land. There are so many of them they are too numerous to count. ⁴  Their teeth are like those ⁵  of a lion; they tear apart their prey like a lioness. ⁶ 

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 

Do not fear, wild animals! ¹  For the pastures of the wilderness are again green with grass. Indeed, the trees bear their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield to their fullest. ² 

It will be ¹  a day of dreadful darkness, ²  a day of foreboding storm clouds, ³  like blackness ⁴  spread over the mountains. It is a huge and powerful army ⁵  – there has never been anything like it ever before, and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! ⁶ 

Then I will gather all the nations, and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. ¹  I will enter into judgment ²  against them there concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance, ³  whom they scattered among the nations. They partitioned my land,

I will remove the one from the north ¹  far from you. I will drive him out to a dry and desolate place. Those in front will be driven eastward into the Dead Sea, ²  and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea. ³  His stench will rise up as a foul smell.” ⁴  Indeed, the Lord ⁵  has accomplished great things.

Tell your children ¹  about it, have your children tell their children, and their children the following generation. ² 

I will make up for the years ¹  that the ‘arbeh-locust ²  consumed your crops ³  – the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust – my great army ⁴  that I sent against you.

The Lord roars from Zion; from Jerusalem ¹  his voice bellows out. ²  The heavens ³  and the earth shake. But the Lord is a refuge for his people; he is a stronghold for the citizens ⁴  of Israel.

and they cast lots for my people. They traded ¹  a boy for a prostitute; they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink. ² 

(3:1) ¹  After all of this ²  I will pour out my Spirit ³  on all kinds of people. ⁴  Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your elderly will have revelatory dreams; ⁵  your young men will see prophetic visions.