Joel 2:1-6

Announcement of alarm and peril

1 Blow the horn in Zion; give a shout on my holy mountain! Let all the people of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is near—
2 a day of darkness and no light, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread out upon the mountains, a great and powerful army comes, unlike any that has ever come before them, or will come after them in centuries ahead.
3 In front of them a fire consumes; and behind them a flame burns. Land ahead of them is like Eden's garden, but they leave behind them a barren wasteland; nothing escapes them.
4 They resemble horses, and like warhorses they charge,
5 like the rumbling of chariots. They leap on the mountaintops— like the crackling of a fire's flame, devouring the stubble; like a powerful army ready for battle.
6 In their presence, peoples shake with fear; all faces turn red with worry.

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.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or a great and strong people
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