Joel 2:13-23

13 Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, and He relents from sending disaster.^[a]

14 Who knows? He may turn and relent^[b] and leave a blessing behind Him, [so you can] offer grain and wine to the Lord your God.

15 Blow the horn in Zion! Announce a sacred fast; proclaim an assembly.

16 Gather the people; sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged;^[c]^[d] gather the children, even those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his bedroom, and the bride her honeymoon chamber.

17 Let the priests, the Lord's ministers, weep between the portico^[e] and the altar.^[f] Let them say: "Have pity on Your people, Lord, and do not make Your inheritance a disgrace, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, 'Where is their God?' "^[g]

God's Response to His People

18 Then the Lord became jealous for His land^[h] and spared His people.

19 The Lord answered His people: Look, I am about to send you grain, new wine, and olive oil. You will be satiated with them, and I will no longer make you a disgrace among the nations.

20 I will drive the northerner far from you and banish him to a dry and desolate land, his front ranks into the Dead Sea, and his rear guard into the Mediterranean Sea. His stench will rise; yes, his rotten smell will rise, for he has done catastrophic things.

21 Don't be afraid, land;^[i] rejoice and be glad, for the Lord has done great things.^[j]

22 Don't be afraid, wild animals, for the wilderness pastures have turned green,^[k] the trees bear their fruit, and the fig tree and grapevine yield their riches.

23 Children of Zion, rejoice and be glad in the Lord your God, because He gives you the autumn rain for your vindication.^[l]^[m] He sends showers for you, both autumn and spring rain as before.

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Joel 2:13-23 Meaning and Commentary

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

Footnotes 13

[a]. 1 Ch 21:15; Jr 18:8; Jnh 4:2
[b]. Jnh 3:9
[c]. Or elders
[d]. 2 Ch 20:3; Neh 9:1; Jr 36:6,9
[e]. the temple porch; 1 Kg 6:3; 7:6-21
[f]. Jl 1:13; Hs 10:5
[g]. Ps 42:3,10; 79:10
[h]. Ezk 36:5,6; Zch 1:14; 8:2
[i]. Jl 1:10
[j]. Jl 2:23; Ps 126:2-3
[k]. Jl 1:19; Ps 65:12; Jr 9:10
[l]. Or righteousness
[m]. Dt 11:13-15