Joel 2:1

The Day of Yahweh is Near

1 Blow [the] trumpet in Zion, and sound the alarm on {my holy mountain}! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh [is] coming --[it is] indeed 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 [the] trumpet in Zion, and sound the alarm on {my holy mountain}! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh [is] coming --[it is] indeed near.

2 A day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and thick darkness, like the dawn spreads on the mountains, a great and strong army! There has been nothing like it from old, and after it nothing will be again {for generations to come}.

3 {Before them} a fire devours, and behind them a flame burns. Like the garden of Eden is the land {before them}, and after them [it is like] a desolate desert, and nothing can escape them.

4 Like [the] appearance of horses is their appearance, and like horsemen they run;

5 like [the] sound of chariots on the tops of the mountains, they leap about; like [the] sound of a flame of fire devouring stubble; like a strong army arranged in rows [for] battle.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "shofar"
• [b]. Literally "mountain of my holiness"