Joel 2:10

10 a facie eius contremuit terra moti sunt caeli sol et luna obtenebrati sunt et stellae retraxerunt splendorem suum

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 unusquisque fratrem suum non coartabit singuli in calle suo ambulabunt sed et per fenestras cadent et non demolientur
9 urbem ingredientur in muro current domos conscendent per fenestras intrabunt quasi fur
10 a facie eius contremuit terra moti sunt caeli sol et luna obtenebrati sunt et stellae retraxerunt splendorem suum
11 et Dominus dedit vocem suam ante faciem exercitus sui quia multa sunt nimis castra eius quia fortia et facientia verbum eius magnus enim dies Domini et terribilis valde et quis sustinebit eum
12 nunc ergo dicit Dominus convertimini ad me in toto corde vestro in ieiunio et in fletu et in planctu
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.