Joel 2:1

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,

Joel 2:1 Meaning and Commentary

Joel 2:1

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy
mountain
This is spoken to the priests, whose business it was to blow the trumpets for calling solemn assemblies to meet in Zion, the temple built there, called from thence the holy mountain of God. Here the trumpet is ordered to be blown with a broken quivering voice, a tarantantara, to give notice of approaching danger by the locusts, or those enemies signified by them, and to prepare for it, and return to God by repentance; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble;
at the judgments of God coming upon them, and the alarm of them: for the day of the Lord cometh, for [it is] nigh at hand;
the time fixed by him to punish a wicked people, and to pour out his wrath and vengeance on them; the day of his visitation, not in love, but in anger.

Joel 2:1 In-Context

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

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

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

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

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

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