Joel 2:17-27

17 Let the priests, the LORD'S ministers, Weep ¹between the porch and the altar, And let them say, "²Spare Your people, O LORD, And do not make Your inheritance a ³reproach, A byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, '⁴Where is their God?' "

Deliverance Promised

18 Then the LORD will be ⁵zealous for His land And will have ⁶pity on His people.

19 The LORD will answer and say to His people, "Behold, I am going to ⁷send you grain, new wine and oil, And you will be satisfied in full with them; And I will ⁸never again make you a reproach among the nations.

20 "But I will remove the ⁹northern army far from you, And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land, And its vanguard into the ¹⁰eastern sea, And its rear guard into the ¹¹western sea. And its ¹²stench will arise and its foul smell will come up, For it has done great things."

21 ¹³Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad, For the LORD has done ¹⁴great things.

22 Do not fear, beasts of the field, For the ¹⁵pastures of the wilderness have turned green, For the tree has borne its fruit, The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.

23 So rejoice, O ¹⁶sons of Zion, And ¹⁷be glad in the LORD your God; For He has ¹⁸given you the early rain for your vindication. And He has poured down for you the rain, The early and ¹⁹latter rain as before.

24 The threshing floors will be full of grain, And the vats will ²⁰overflow with the new wine and oil.

25 "Then I will make up to you for the years That the swarming ²¹locust has eaten, The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust, My great army which I sent among you.

26 "You will have plenty to ²²eat and be satisfied And ²³praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has ²⁴dealt wondrously with you; Then My people will ²⁵never * be put to shame.

27 "Thus you will ²⁶know that I am in the midst of Israel, And that I am the LORD your God, And there is ²⁷no other; And My people will never * be ²⁸put to shame.

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Joel 2:17-27 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

Cross References 28

1. 2 Chronicles 8:12; Ezekiel 8:16
2. Exodus 32:11, 12; Isaiah 37:20; Amos 7:2, 5
3. Psalms 44:13; Psalms 74:10
4. Psalms 42:10; Psalms 79:10; Psalms 115:2
5. Zechariah 1:14; Zechariah 8:2
6. Isaiah 60:10; Isaiah 63:9, 15
7. Jeremiah 31:12; Hosea 2:21, 22; Joel 1:10; Malachi 3:10
8. Ezekiel 34:29; Ezekiel 36:15
9. Jeremiah 1:14, 15
10. Zechariah 14:8
11. Deuteronomy 11:24
12. Isaiah 34:3; Amos 4:10
13. Isaiah 54:4; Jeremiah 30:10; Zephaniah 3:16, 17
14. Psalms 126:3; Joel 2:26
15. Psalms 65:12, 13
16. Psalms 149:2
17. Isaiah 12:2-6
18. Deuteronomy 11:14; Isaiah 41:16; Jeremiah 5:24; Habakkuk 3:18; Zechariah 10:7
19. Leviticus 26:4; Hosea 6:3; Zechariah 10:1
20. Leviticus 26:10; Amos 9:13; Malachi 3:10
21. Joel 1:4-7; Joel 2:2-11
22. Leviticus 26:5; Deuteronomy 11:15; Isaiah 62:9
23. Deuteronomy 12:7; Psalms 67:5-7
24. Psalms 126:2, 3; Isaiah 25:1
25. Isaiah 45:17
26. Leviticus 26:11, 12; Joel 3:17, 21
27. Isaiah 45:5, 6
28. Isaiah 49:23

Footnotes 9

[a]. Or "was zealous"
[b]. Or "had pity"
[c]. Or "answered and said"
[d]. Lit "it"
[e]. Lit "their wealth"
[f]. I.e. autumn; or possibly "the teacher for righteousness"
[g]. I.e. autumn
[h]. I.e. spring
[i]. So with ancient versions; Heb "in the first"