The Day of the LORD
2
📚Blow the trumpet 📖 in Zion,and sound an alarm in my
holy mountain 📖!
Let all the inhabitants of
the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming,
for it is at hand 📖,
The armies which will invade Israel
2 📚A day of darkness 📖 and of gloominess,
a day of clouds and of dense
darkness.
Like dawn spreading on the mountains,
so a vast and mighty
people 📖 come.
There has never been such as this;
nor will there be any such after it,
even to the years of many generations 📖.
3 📚Before them a fire devours,
and behind them a flame burns.
Before them the land is like
the garden of Eden,
but behind them a desolate wilderness;
yes, and nothing escapes them.
2:3 Literal armies can be as destructive to a land as locusts and, of course, far more destructive to human life.⚜
4 📚Their appearance is like the appearance
of horses, and they run like cavalry.
5 📚They leap over the mountains
with a noise like that of chariots,
like the sound of a flame of fire
that devours the stubble,
like a mighty people set in battle array.
6 📚Before their faces the people
are in anguish;
all faces collect warmth 📖.
7 📚They run like mighty men.
They climb the walls like warriors;
and each one of them marches
on in line and they do not break
their ranks.
8 📚They do not bump one another.
Each one walks in his path;
and when they fall by the sword
they are not stopped.
9 📚They run to and fro in the city.
They run along on the wall,
they climb into the houses;
they enter at the windows like a thief.
2:9 There will be no safety, no escape.⚜
10 📚The earth quakes before them,
the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon grow dark,
and the stars withdraw their shining 📖.
A call to repentance
11 📚And the LORD makes his voice
sound before his army 📖;
for his camp is very great,
for strong is the one
who carries out his word.
For the day of the LORD 📖 is great
and very terrible, and
who can endure it 📖?
12 📚“So even now”, says the LORD,
“turn to me with all your heart,
and with fasting, and with weeping,
and with mourning,
13 📚And rend your hearts,
and not your garments 📖,
and turn 📖 to the LORD your God.
For he is gracious and merciful,
slow to get angry,
and abounding in kindness,
and relents 📖 concerning disaster”.
14 📚Who knows but that
he may turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the LORD your God.
15 📚Blow the trumpet in Zion!
Sanctify a fast! Call a solemn assembly!
16 📚Gather the people, consecrate
the congregation,
assemble the elders, gather the children,
and those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom come out of his chamber,
and the bride from her room.
2:15-16 This is a call for the people to meet together and earnestly seek God. No one was to stay away for any reason whatever. It is the way to the blessing of the previous verse.⚜
17 📚Let the priests, the ministers
of the LORD,
weep between the portico and the altar,
and let them say,
“Spare your people, O LORD,
and do not give up your
inheritance 📖 to scorn 📖,
so that the nations rule over them.
Why should they say among
the peoples,
2:17 The religious leaders of the people must take the lead in repentance and seeking God.⚜
‘Where is their God 📖?’ ”
God’s promise of help and blessing if they repent
18 📚Then the LORD will be jealous 📖
for his land, and pity his people.
2:18 If the people will do their part, God will be sure to do His part. Compare Jam 4:8-10.⚜
19 📚Yes, the LORD will answer and
say to his people,
“See, I will send you grain, and wine,
and oil, and you will be
satisfied with it.
And I will no longer make you
an object of reproach
among the nations,
20 📚But will remove far from you
the northern invader,
and will drive him into a barren
and desolate land with his face
toward the eastern sea 📖,
and his back toward the western sea 📖,
2:20 Some scholars think this is a reference to the “army” of locusts seen in chapter 1. Compare v 25. Others think it means a literal army which will invade Israel at the end of this age (compare Ezekiel chapters 38,39). Perhaps it refers both to the time then and the time still to come. See note on Isa 60:1-22.⚜
and his stench 📖 will go up,
and his bad smell will rise,
A message of joy
because he has done monstrous things”.
21 📚Do not fear, O land.
Be glad and rejoice, for the LORD
will do great things.
22 📚Do not be afraid, you beasts
of the field,
for the wilderness pastures are springing up,
for the tree is bearing its fruit,
the fig tree and the vine are yielding
their strength.
23 📚Be glad then, you children of Zion,
and rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given you the early rains justly,
and he causes the rains to fall for you,
the early rains, and the latter rains
in the first month.
24 📚And the threshing floors will be full
of wheat, and the vats will overflow
with wine and oil.
2:21-24 In the earlier part of Joel the people of Israel are told to weep, wail and mourn – Joel 1:5, 8, 11, 13; 2:17. Now they are told to be glad and rejoice. What makes the difference? On their part, repentance and turning to God; on God’s part, restoring and blessing the people and the land. “The LORD will do great things”, not they (Ps 126:3; Isa 25:1; 1 Sam 12:24). And they must rejoice in Him (v 23), not in themselves. “Early rains, and the latter rains” (v 23) – he means literal rains. There had been a drought in the land and God will give them rains “as before”.⚜
Future blessings, the outpouring of God’s Spirit
25 📚“And I will repay 📖 you for the years
that the gnawing locusts have eaten,
the large locusts, the crawling locusts,
and the shearing locusts,
my great army 📖 which I sent
among you.
26 📚And you will have plenty to eat,
and will be satisfied and praise 📖
the name of the LORD your God,
who has dealt wonderfully with you;
and my people will never be
put to shame.
27 📚And you will know that I am
in the midst of Israel,
and that I am the LORD
your God, and there is no other 📖;
and my people will never be
put to shame 📖.
28 📚“And it will come about afterward 📖,
that I will pour out my Spirit
on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters 📖
will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 📚And in those days I will also
pour out my Spirit on my male
and female servants.
30 📚And I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth, blood, and fire,
and pillars of smoke.
31 📚The sun will be turned into darkness,
and the moon into blood,
before the great and terrible
day of the LORD comes.
2:30-31 Compare Matt 24:29; Rev 6:12-14. These events will take place just before the “day of the LORD” (Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11; 3:14). The fact that God refers to them in connection with the outpouring of His Spirit may suggest that there will be an outpouring just before the end of this age.⚜
32 📚And it will come to pass,
that whoever calls 📖 on the name
of the LORD will be saved 📖.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance 📖,
as the LORD has said,
among the remnant 📖 whom
the LORD calls.
2:28-32 See Acts 2:16-21. Pentecost was the beginning of the fulfillment of these verses.⚜