Joel 2:10

10 They arrive like an earthquake, sweep through like a tornado. Sun and moon turn out their lights, stars black out.

Joel 2:10 Meaning and Commentary

Joel 2:10

The earth shall quake before them
The inhabitants of it, because of the desolating judgments they bring with them, and those enemies that are signified by them: the heavens shall tremble;
being obscured by them: the sun and moon shall be dark;
the locusts sometimes come in such large numbers as to intercept the rays of the sun. Pliny F20 says they sometimes darken it; and though some thought they did not fly in the night, because of the cold; this he observes is owing to their ignorance, not considering that they pass over wide seas to distant countries; and this will account for it how the moon also may be darkened by them, and the stars, as follows: and the stars shall withdraw their shining;
though all this may be understood in a figurative sense of the great consternation that all sorts of persons should be in at such calamities coming upon the land, either by locusts, or by enemies; as the king, queen, nobles, and the common people of the land, signified by sun, moon, and stars, heaven and earth.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 Ibid. (Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 29.)

Joel 2:10 In-Context

8 They don't get in each other's way. Each one knows his job and does it. Undaunted and fearless, unswerving, unstoppable.
9 They storm the city, swarm its defenses, Loot the houses, breaking down doors, smashing windows.
10 They arrive like an earthquake, sweep through like a tornado. Sun and moon turn out their lights, stars black out.
11 God himself bellows in thunder as he commands his forces. Look at the size of that army! And the strength of those who obey him! God's Judgment Day - great and terrible. Who can possibly survive this? Change Your Life
12 But there's also this, it's not too late - God's personal Message! - "Come back to me and really mean it! Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins!"
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.