Joel 2

The Day of the Lord

1 ¹Blow a trumpet in ²Zion; sound an alarm on ³my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for ⁴the day of the LORD is coming; it is near,

2 ⁵a day of darkness and gloom, ⁶a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains ⁷a great and powerful people; ⁸their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.

3 ⁹Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like ¹⁰the garden of Eden before them, but ¹¹behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them.

4 ¹²Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run.

5 ¹³As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of ¹⁴a flame of fire devouring the stubble, ¹⁵like a powerful army drawn up for battle.

6 Before them peoples are in anguish; ¹⁶all 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; ¹⁷each marches in his path; they burst through the weapons and are not halted.

9 ¹⁸They leap upon the city, they run upon the walls, ¹⁹they climb up into the houses, ²⁰they enter through the windows ²¹like a thief.

10 ²²The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. ²³The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

11 ²⁴The LORD utters his voice before ²⁵his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; ²⁶he who executes his word is powerful. ²⁷For the day of the LORD is ²⁸great and very awesome; ²⁹who can endure it?

Return to the Lord

12 "Yet even now," declares the LORD, ³⁰"return to me with all your heart, ³¹with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

13 and ³²rend your hearts and not ³³your garments." Return to the LORD your God, ³⁴for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; ³⁵and he relents over disaster.

14 ³⁶Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and ³⁷leave a blessing behind him, ³⁸a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God?

15 ³⁹Blow the trumpet in Zion; ⁴⁰consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly;

16 gather the people. ⁴¹Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; ⁴²gather the children, even nursing infants. ⁴³Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.

17 ⁴⁴Between the ⁴⁵vestibule and the ⁴⁶altar ⁴⁷let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, "Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations.^{[a] 48}Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

The Lord Had Pity

18 ⁴⁹Then the LORD became jealous for his land ⁵⁰and had pity on his people.

19 The LORD answered and said to his people, "Behold, ⁵¹I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, ⁵²and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

20 "I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land, his vanguard^[b] into ⁵³the eastern sea, and his rear guard^[c] into ⁵⁴the western sea; ⁵⁵the stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things.

21 "Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for ⁵⁶the LORD has done great things!

22 Fear not, ⁵⁷you beasts of the field, for ⁵⁸the pastures of the wilderness are green; ⁵⁹the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and ⁶⁰vine give their full yield.

23 ⁶¹"Be glad, O children of Zion, and ⁶²rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given ⁶³the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, ⁶⁴the early and ⁶⁵the latter rain, as before.

24 "The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

25 I will restore to you the years that ⁶⁶the swarming locust has eaten, ⁶⁷the hopper, ⁶⁸the destroyer, and ⁶⁹the cutter, ⁷⁰my great army, which I sent among you.

26 ⁷¹"You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people ⁷²shall never again be put to shame.

27 ⁷³You shall know that I am ⁷⁴in the midst of Israel, and that ⁷⁵I am the LORD your God ⁷⁶and there is none else. And my people ⁷⁷shall never again be put to shame.

The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit

28 ^[d]78"And it shall come to pass afterward, that ⁷⁹I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; ⁸⁰your sons and ⁸¹your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.

29 ⁸²Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

30 "And I will show ⁸³wonders in the heavens and ⁸⁴on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.

31 ⁸⁵The sun shall be turned to darkness, ⁸⁶and the moon to blood, ⁸⁷before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.

32 And it shall come to pass that ⁸⁸everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. ⁸⁹For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among ⁹⁰the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

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.

Cross References

• 1. ver. 15; Isaiah 58:1; Hosea 5:8; Amos 3:6
• 2. See Joel 3:17
• 3. See Joel 3:17
• 4. See Joel 1:15
• 5. Amos 5:18, 20; Zephaniah 1:15
• 6. Amos 5:18, 20; Zephaniah 1:15
• 7. Joel 1:6; [ver. 11, 25]
• 8. [Joel 1:2]
• 9. Joel 1:19, 20
• 10. Genesis 2:8, 9; See Isaiah 51:3
• 11. Zechariah 7:14
• 12. Revelation 9:7
• 13. Revelation 9:9; [Nahum 3:2]
• 14. Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 47:14; Obadiah 18; Nahum 1:10
• 15. [See ver. 2 above]
• 16. Nahum 2:10
• 17. Proverbs 30:27
• 18. Isaiah 33:4
• 19. [Jeremiah 9:21]
• 20. [Jeremiah 9:21]
• 21. [John 10:1]
• 22. Joel 3:16; [Psalms 18:7; Amos 8:8]
• 23. Joel 3:15; Isaiah 13:10; Ezekiel 32:7; Matthew 24:29; [Revelation 9:2]
• 24. Joel 3:16; [1 Thessalonians 4:16]
• 25. ver. 25
• 26. Revelation 18:8
• 27. See Joel 1:15
• 28. ver. 31
• 29. Malachi 3:2; [Numbers 24:23]
• 30. Deuteronomy 4:30; 1 Samuel 7:3; Jeremiah 4:1; Hosea 12:6
• 31. [1 Samuel 7:6]
• 32. [Psalms 34:18]
• 33. See Genesis 37:29
• 34. Exodus 34:6; Psalms 86:5, 15; Jonah 4:2
• 35. [Numbers 23:19; Ezekiel 24:14]
• 36. Jonah 3:9
• 37. Haggai 2:19; Malachi 3:10
• 38. Joel 1:9, 13
• 39. See ver. 1
• 40. See Joel 1:14
• 41. See Joshua 3:5
• 42. [2 Chronicles 20:13]
• 43. [Deuteronomy 24:5; Ecclesiastes 3:5; Zechariah 12:12-14; 1 Corinthians 7:5]
• 44. Ezekiel 8:16
• 45. 1 Kings 6:3; 2 Chronicles 3:4
• 46. 2 Chronicles 4:1
• 47. See Joel 1:9
• 48. Psalms 42:3; Psalms 79:10; Psalms 115:2
• 49. Zechariah 1:14; Zechariah 8:2
• 50. [Psalms 103:13]
• 51. [Joel 1:10; Psalms 4:7]; See Malachi 3:10-12
• 52. [Joel 1:10; Psalms 4:7]; See Malachi 3:10-12
• 53. Ezekiel 47:18; Zechariah 14:8
• 54. Zechariah 14:8
• 55. Isaiah 34:3; [Amos 4:10]
• 56. Psalms 126:2, 3
• 57. See Joel 1:18
• 58. [Joel 1:19]
• 59. [Zechariah 8:12]
• 60. [Zechariah 8:12]
• 61. Psalms 100:1, 2; Habakkuk 3:18; Zechariah 10:7
• 62. Psalms 100:1, 2; Habakkuk 3:18; Zechariah 10:7
• 63. Deuteronomy 11:14; Jeremiah 5:24
• 64. Deuteronomy 11:14; Jeremiah 5:24
• 65. Hosea 6:3
• 66. Joel 1:4
• 67. Joel 1:4
• 68. Joel 1:4
• 69. Joel 1:4
• 70. ver. 11
• 71. Leviticus 25:19
• 72. [Isaiah 49:23]
• 73. Joel 3:17
• 74. Hosea 11:9; See Ezekiel 37:26
• 75. See Exodus 20:2
• 76. [Isaiah 44:8]
• 77. [See ver. 26 above]
• 78. ver. 28-32, citedActs 2:17-21
• 79. Isaiah 32:15; Ezekiel 39:29; Zechariah 12:10; John 7:39
• 80. [Acts 2:39]
• 81. [Acts 21:9]
• 82. [1 Corinthians 12:13]
• 83. [Matthew 24:30; Luke 21:11]
• 84. [Matthew 24:30; Luke 21:11]
• 85. See ver. 10
• 86. Revelation 6:12
• 87. Malachi 4:5
• 88. Cited Romans 10:13
• 89. Isaiah 46:13; Isaiah 59:20; Obadiah 17
• 90. Jeremiah 31:7; Micah 4:7; Zechariah 8:12

Footnotes

• [a]. Or reproach, that the nations should rule over them
• [b]. Hebrew face
• [c]. Hebrew his end
• [d]. Ch 3:1 in Hebrew

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.