Joel 2

An Army of Locusts

1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand—

2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.

3 Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste— nothing escapes them.

4 They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry.

5 With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle.

6 At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale.

7 They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. They all march in line, not swerving from their course.

8 They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks.

9 They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows.

10 Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.

11 The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?

Rend Your Heart

12 “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.

14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God.

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.

16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.

17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ”

The LORD’s Answer

18 Then the LORD was jealous for his land and took pity on his people.

19 The LORD replied^[a] to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations.

20 “I will drive the northern horde far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land; its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise.” Surely he has done great things!

21 Do not be afraid, land of Judah; be glad and rejoice. Surely the LORD has done great things!

22 Do not be afraid, you wild animals, for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.

23 Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.

24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm^[b] — my great army that I sent among you.

26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.

27 Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.

The Day of the LORD

28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.

29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.

31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.^[c]

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Joel 2 Commentary

Chapter 2

God's judgments. (1-14) Exhortations to fasting and prayer; blessings promised. (15-27) A promise of the Holy Spirit, and of future mercies. (28-32)

Verses 1-14 The priests were to alarm the people with the near approach of the Divine judgments. It is the work of ministers to warn of the fatal consequences of sin, and to reveal the wrath from heaven against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. The striking description which follows, shows what would attend the devastations of locusts, but may also describe the effects from the ravaging of the land by the Chaldeans. If the alarm of temporal judgments is given to offending nations, how much more should sinners be warned to seek deliverance from the wrath to come! Our business therefore on earth must especially be, to secure an interest in our Lord Jesus Christ; and we should seek to be weaned from objects which will soon be torn from all who now make idols of them. There must be outward expressions of sorrow and shame, fasting, weeping, and mourning; tears for trouble must be turned into tears for the sin that caused it. But rending the garments would be vain, except their hearts were rent by abasement and self-abhorrence; by sorrow for their sins, and separation from them. There is no question but that if we truly repent of our sins, God will forgive them; but whether he will remove affliction is not promised, yet the probability of it should encourage us to repent.

Verses 15-27 The priests and rulers are to appoint a solemn fast. The sinner's supplication is, Spare us, good Lord. God is ready to succour his people; and he waits to be gracious. They prayed that God would spare them, and he answered them. His promises are real answers to the prayers of faith; with him saying and doing are not two things. Some understand these promises figuratively, as pointing to gospel grace, and as fulfilled in the abundant comforts treasured up for believers in the covenant of grace.

Verses 28-32 The promise began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out, and it was continued in the converting grace and miraculous gifts conferred on both Jews and Gentiles. The judgments of God upon a sinful world, only go before the judgment of the world in the last day. Calling on God supposes knowledge of him, faith in him, desire toward him, dependence on him, and, as evidence of the sincerity of all this, conscientious obedience to him. Those only shall be delivered in the great day, who are now effectually called from sin to God, from self to Christ, from things below to things above.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 108

1. S Numbers 10:2,7; Jeremiah 4:5
2. ver 15
3. S Exodus 15:17
4. S Joel 1:15; Zephaniah 1:14-16
5. S Ezekiel 12:23; S Ezekiel 30:3; Obadiah 1:15
6. ver 10,31; S Job 9:7; S Isaiah 8:22; S Isaiah 13:10; Amos 5:18
7. S Daniel 9:12; S Matthew 24:21
8. S Ezekiel 34:12
9. S Ezekiel 38:9
10. Zephaniah 1:15; Revelation 9:2
11. S Joel 1:6
12. Joel 1:2
13. S Psalms 97:3; S Isaiah 1:31
14. S Genesis 2:8
15. Exodus 10:12-15; Psalms 105:34-35; S Isaiah 14:17
16. Revelation 9:7
17. Revelation 9:9
18. Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 30:30
19. S Isaiah 13:8
20. S Isaiah 29:22; Nahum 2:10
21. S Job 16:14
22. Proverbs 30:27
23. Isaiah 5:27
24. Exodus 10:6
25. Jeremiah 9:21
26. Psalms 18:7; Nahum 1:5
27. S Ezekiel 38:19
28. S ver 2; S Isaiah 5:30; S Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24; Revelation 9:2
29. S Job 9:7; S Psalms 102:26; Isaiah 13:10; S Ezekiel 32:8
30. S Isaiah 2:12; S Ezekiel 30:3; S Joel 1:15; Obadiah 1:15
31. S Psalms 29:3
32. S ver 2,25
33. Zephaniah 1:14; Revelation 18:8
34. S Ezekiel 22:14; Zephaniah 2:11; Revelation 6:17
35. S Deuteronomy 4:30; S Ezekiel 33:11; Jeremiah 4:1; S Hos 12:6
36. S 1 Samuel 7:3
37. Psalms 51:17; Psalms 34:18; Isaiah 57:15
38. S Genesis 37:29; S Numbers 14:6; Job 1:20
39. S Isaiah 19:22
40. S Deuteronomy 4:31
41. Exodus 34:6; S Psalms 86:5,15
42. S Jeremiah 18:8; John 4:2
43. Jeremiah 26:3; John 3:9
44. Amos 5:15; John 1:6
45. Jeremiah 31:14; Haggai 2:19; Zechariah 8:13; Malachi 3:10
46. S Joel 1:13
47. S Numbers 10:2
48. ver 1
49. S 2 Chronicles 20:3; Jeremiah 36:9
50. S Exodus 32:5; Numbers 10:3; Joel 1:14
51. S Exodus 19:10,22
52. Joel 1:2
53. Psalms 19:5
54. Joel 1:13
55. S Isaiah 22:12
56. Ezekiel 8:16; Matthew 23:35
57. Deuteronomy 9:26-29; Psalms 44:13
58. S 1 Kings 9:7; S Job 17:6
59. S Psalms 42:3
60. S Isaiah 26:11; Zechariah 1:14; Zechariah 8:2
61. S Psalms 72:13
62. Psalms 4:7
63. S Jeremiah 31:12
64. S Leviticus 26:5
65. S Ezekiel 34:29
66. Jeremiah 1:14-15
67. Zechariah 14:8
68. S Isaiah 34:3
69. S Isaiah 29:22; S Isaiah 54:4; Zephaniah 3:16-17
70. S Psalms 9:2
71. S Psalms 126:3; S Isaiah 25:1
72. S Psalms 65:12
73. S 1 Kings 4:25
74. S Numbers 16:14
75. Joel 1:18-20; Zechariah 8:12
76. Psalms 33:21; Psalms 97:12; Psalms 149:2; Isaiah 12:6; Isaiah 41:16; Isaiah 66:14; Habakkuk 3:18; Zechariah 10:7
77. S Isaiah 45:8
78. S Job 36:28; S Ezekiel 34:26
79. Psalms 84:6
80. S Leviticus 26:4; S Psalms 135:7; James 5:7
81. Leviticus 26:10; Malachi 3:10
82. S Proverbs 3:10; Joel 3:18; Amos 9:13
83. S Exodus 10:14; Amos 4:9
84. S Deuteronomy 28:39
85. S Joel 1:6
86. S Leviticus 26:5
87. S Leviticus 23:40; S Isaiah 62:9
88. S Psalms 126:3; S Isaiah 25:1
89. S Isaiah 29:22
90. S Exodus 6:7
91. S Exodus 6:2; S Isaiah 44:8; Joel 3:17
92. Isaiah 45:17; Isaiah 54:4; Zephaniah 3:11
93. S Isaiah 11:2; S Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 39:29
94. S Numbers 11:17; S Mark 1:8; Galatians 3:14
95. S 1 Samuel 19:20
96. Jeremiah 23:25
97. 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:28
98. S Ezekiel 36:27
99. Luke 21:11
100. Mark 13:24-25
101. S ver 2; S Isaiah 22:5; S Jeremiah 4:23; S Matthew 24:29
102. Isaiah 13:9-10; S Joel 1:15; Obadiah 1:15; Malachi 3:2; Malachi 4:1,5
103. S Genesis 4:26; S Psalms 105:1
104. S Psalms 106:8; Acts 2:17-21*; Romans 10:13*
105. S Isaiah 46:13
106. Obadiah 1:17
107. S Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 11:11; Micah 4:7; Micah 7:18; S Romans 9:27
108. Acts 2:39

Footnotes 3

[a]. Or Lord"will be jealous …" / "and take pity …" / 19"The " Lord"will reply"
[b]. The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.
[c]. In Hebrew texts 2:28-32 is numbered 3:1-5.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JOEL 2

In this chapter a further account is given of the judgment of the locusts and caterpillars, or of those who are designed by them, Joe 2:1-11; the people of the Jews are called to repentance, humiliation, and fasting, urged from the grace and goodness of God, his jealousy and pity for his people, and the answer of prayer that might he expected from him upon this, even to the removal of the calamity, Joe 2:12-20; a prophecy of good things, both temporal and spiritual, in the times of the Messiah, is delivered out as matter and occasion of great joy, Joe 2:21-27; and another concerning the effusion of the Spirit, which was fulfilled an the day of Pentecost, Joe 2:28-29; and the chapter is concluded with the judgments and desolations that should come upon the land of Judea after this, for their rejection of Christ, though the remnant according to the election of grace should be delivered and saved from the general destruction, Joe 2:30-32.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Joel 2 Commentaries

Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete)

John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Geneva Study Bible

PLUS

Wesley's Explanatory Notes