7. The soldiers run fast. They climb over the walls. Each soldier marches straight ahead. They don’t move from their path.
8. They don’t trip each other. Each soldier walks in his own path. If one of the soldiers is hit and falls down, the others keep right on marching.
9. They run to the city. They quickly climb over the wall. They climb into the houses. They climb through the windows like thieves.
10. Before them, earth and sky shake. The sun and the moon become dark, and the stars stop shining.
11. The Lord calls loudly to his army. His camp is very large. The army obeys his commands. His army is very powerful. The Lord’S special day is a great and terrible day. No one can stop it.
12. This is the Lord’S message: “Now come back to me with all your heart. Cry and mourn, and don’t eat anything! Show that you are sad for doing wrong.
13. Tear your hearts, not your clothes.” Come back to the Lord your God. He is kind and merciful. He does not become angry quickly. He has great love. Maybe he will change his mind about the bad punishment he planned.
14. Who knows, maybe he will change his mind and leave behind a blessing for you. Then you can give grain and drink offerings to the Lord your God.
15. Blow the trumpet at Zion. Call for a special meeting. Call for a special time of fasting.
16. Bring the people together. Call for a special meeting. Bring together the old men, the children, and the small babies still at their mothers’ breasts. Let the bride and her new husband come from their bedroom.
17. Let the priests, the Lord’S servants, cry between the porch and the altar. All of them should say this: “Lord, have mercy on your people. Don’t let your people be put to shame. Don’t let other people tell jokes about your people. Don’t let the other nations laugh at us and say, ‘Where is their God?’”
18. Then the Lord cared very much about his land. He felt sorry for his people.
19. The Lord spoke to his people. He said, “I will send you grain, wine, and oil. You will have plenty. I will not shame you among the nations anymore.
20. No, I will force the people from the north to leave your land and make them go into a dry, empty land. Some of them will go to the eastern sea and some to the western sea. They did such terrible things, but they will be like a dead and rotting body. There will be such a terrible smell!”
21. Land, don’t be afraid. Be happy and full of joy. The Lord will do great things.
22. Animals of the field, don’t be afraid. The desert pastures will grow grass. The trees will grow fruit. The fig trees and the vines will grow plenty of fruit.
23. So be happy, people of Zion. Be joyful in the Lord your God. He is good and will give you rain. He will send the early rains and the late rains as before.
24. The threshing floors will be filled with wheat, and the barrels will overflow with wine and olive oil.
25. “I, the Lord, sent my army against you. The swarming locusts and the hopping locusts and the destroying locusts and the cutting locusts ate everything you had. But I will pay you back for those years of trouble.
26. Then you will have plenty to eat. You will be full. You will praise the name of the Lord your God. He has done wonderful things for you. My people will never again be ashamed.