Joel 1:15

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Joel 1:15 In-Context

13 Priests, put on black clothes and sob. Cry, you who serve at the altar. Come, you who serve my God in the temple. Spend the night dressed in black clothes. Sob because no one brings grain offerings and drink offerings to the house of your God anymore.

14 Announce a holy fast. Tell the people not to eat anything. Gather them together for a special service. Send for all of the elders who live in the land. Have them come to the house of the LORD your God. And pray to him.

15 The day of the LORD is near. How sad it will be on that day! The Mighty One is coming to destroy you.

16 Our food has been taken away right in front of our eyes. There isn't any joy or gladness in the house of our God.

17 The seeds have dried up in the ground. The grain is also gone. The storerooms have been destroyed. The barns are broken down.