Joel 1:15

15 Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.[a]

Joel 1:15 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
English Standard Version (ESV)
15 Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
New Living Translation (NLT)
15 The day of the LORD is near, the day when destruction comes from the Almighty. How terrible that day will be!
The Message Bible (MSG)
15 What a day! Doomsday! God's Judgment Day has come. The Strong God has arrived. This is serious business!
American Standard Version (ASV)
15 Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
15 This will be a terrible day! The day of the LORD is near, and it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
15 Woe because of that day! For the Day of the Lord is near and will come as devastation from the Almighty.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
15 The day of the LORD is near. How sad it will be on that day! The Mighty One is coming to destroy you.

Joel 1:15 Meaning and Commentary

Joel 1:15

Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord [is] at hand
A time of severer and heavier judgments than these of the locusts, caterpillars which were a presage and emblem of greater ones, even of the total destruction of their city, temple, and nation, either by the Chaldeans, or by the Romans, or both: and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come;
unawares, suddenly, and irresistibly: there is in the Hebrew text an elegant play on words, which may be rendered, as "wasting from the waster", or "destruction from the destroyer, shall it come" F24; even from the almighty God, who is able to save and destroy, and none can deliver out of his hands; see ( Isaiah 13:6 ) ; the word signifies one powerful and victorious, as Aben Ezra observes; and so it does in the Arabic language.


FOOTNOTES:

F24 (ydvm dvk) "uti vastitas a Deo vastatore", Drusius.

Joel 1:15 In-Context

13 Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
15 Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
16 Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes— joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods.The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up.

Cross References 3

  • 1. S Isaiah 2:12; Jeremiah 30:7; S Jeremiah 46:10; S Ezekiel 30:3; Malachi 4:5
  • 2. Isaiah 13:6,9; Joel 2:1,11,31; Joel 3:14; Amos 5:18; Zephaniah 1:14; Zechariah 14:1
  • 3. S Genesis 17:1

Footnotes 1

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