Joel 2:3-13

3 ¹Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like ²the garden of Eden before them, but ³behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them.

4 ⁴Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run.

5 ⁵As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of ⁶a flame of fire devouring the stubble, ⁷like a powerful army drawn up for battle.

6 Before them peoples are in anguish; ⁸all faces grow pale.

7 Like warriors they charge; like soldiers they scale the wall. They march each on his way; they do not swerve from their paths.

8 They do not jostle one another; ⁹each marches in his path; they burst through the weapons and are not halted.

9 ¹⁰They leap upon the city, they run upon the walls, ¹¹they climb up into the houses, ¹²they enter through the windows ¹³like a thief.

10 ¹⁴The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. ¹⁵The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

11 ¹⁶The Lord utters his voice before ¹⁷his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; ¹⁸he who executes his word is powerful. ¹⁹For the day of the Lord is ²⁰great and very awesome; ²¹who can endure it?

Return to the Lord

12 “Yet even now, ” declares the Lord, ²²“return to me with all your heart, ²³with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

13 and ²⁴rend your hearts and not ²⁵your garments. ”Return to the Lord your God, ²⁶for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; ²⁷and he relents over disaster.

Joel 2:3-13 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.

Cross References

• 1. 2:3 ch. 1:19, 20
• 2. 2:3 Gen. 2:8, 9; See Isa. 51:3
• 3. 2:3 Zech. 7:14
• 4. 2:4 Rev. 9:7
• 5. 2:5 Rev. 9:9; [Nah. 3:2]
• 6. 2:5 Isa. 5:24; 47:14; Obad. 18; Nah. 1:10
• 7. 2:5 [See ver. 2 above]
• 8. 2:6 Nah. 2:10
• 9. 2:8 Prov. 30:27
• 10. 2:9 Isa. 33:4
• 11. 2:9 [Jer. 9:21]
• 12. 2:9 [Jer. 9:21]
• 13. 2:9 [John 10:1]
• 14. 2:10 ch. 3:16; [Ps. 18:7; Amos 8:8]
• 15. 2:10 ch. 3:15; Isa. 13:10; Ezek. 32:7; Matt. 24:29; [Rev. 9:2]
• 16. 2:11 ch. 3:16; [1 Thess. 4:16]
• 17. 2:11 ver. 25
• 18. 2:11 Rev. 18:8
• 19. 2:11 See ch. 1:15
• 20. 2:11 ver. 31
• 21. 2:11 Mal. 3:2; [Num. 24:23]
• 22. 2:12 Deut. 4:30; 1 Sam. 7:3; Jer. 4:1; Hos. 12:6
• 23. 2:12 [1 Sam. 7:6]
• 24. 2:13 [Ps. 34:18]
• 25. 2:13 See Gen. 37:29
• 26. 2:13 Ex. 34:6; Ps. 86:5, 15; Jonah 4:2
• 27. 2:13 [Num. 23:19; Ezek. 24:14]