Joel 2:1-6

1 Blow you the shofar in Tziyon, And sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD comes, For it is close at hand:

2 A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn spreading on the mountains, A great and strong people; There has never been the like, Neither will there be any more after them, Even to the years of many generations.

3 A fire devours before them, And behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of `Eden before them, And behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.

4 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, And as horsemen, so do they run.

5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap, Like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, As a strong people set in battle array.

6 At their presence the peoples are in anguish. All faces have grown pale.

Joel 2:1-6 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.