Joel 2

Joel moves from the terror of YHWH’s approaching day through communal repentance to promises of restoration, the Spirit, and deliverance.

An alarm sounds in Zion as Joel describes a devastating force advancing under YHWH’s command. Its movement resembles an army, while the chapter also identifies locusts as God’s army; how these images relate is debated. Joel calls the whole community, including infants and newlyweds, to gather in repentance. YHWH then answers with pity and promises food, restored land, and his presence among Israel. The closing promises concern the outpouring of his Spirit and deliverance through his name.

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1Blow 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 comes, for it is close at hand:

2A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn spreading on the mountains, a great and strong people; there has never been the like, neither will there be any more after them, even to the years of many generations.

3A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.

5Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains, they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array.

6At their presence the peoples are in anguish. All faces have grown pale.

7They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like warriors. They each march in his line, and they don’t swerve off course.

8One doesn’t jostle another. They each march in their own path. They burst through the defenses and don’t break ranks.

9They rush on the city. They run on the wall. They climb up into the houses. They enter in at the windows like thieves.

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

11The LORD thunders his voice before his army, for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of the LORD is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?

12“Yet even now,” says the LORD, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”

13Tear your heart and not your garments, and turn to the LORD, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.

14Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering to the LORD, your God.

15Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly.

16Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts. Let the bridegroom go out of his room, and the bride out of her chamber.

17Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare your people, LORD, and don’t give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

18Then the LORD was jealous for his land, and had pity on his people.

19The LORD answered his people, “Behold, I will send you grain, new wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied with them; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

20But I will remove the northern army far away from you, and will drive it into a barren and desolate land, its front into the eastern sea, and its back into the western sea; and its stench will come up, and its bad smell will rise.” Surely he has done great things.

21Land, don’t be afraid. Be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things.

22Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness spring up, for the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.

23“Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD, your God; for he gives you the early rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the early rain and the latter rain, as before.

24The threshing floors will be full of wheat, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

25I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you.

26You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied, and will praise the name of the LORD, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and my people will never again be disappointed.

27You will know that I am among Israel, and that I am the LORD, your God, and there is no one else; and my people will never again be disappointed.

28“It will happen 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.

29And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit.

30I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.

31The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.

32It will happen that whoever will call on the LORD’s name shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the remnant, those whom the LORD calls.

World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.

Key verses

Joel 2:13The call for repentance reaches the heart and rests on YHWH’s mercy amid the threat of judgment.

Joel 2:28The promise widens from restored harvests to God’s Spirit poured out across differences of age and sex.

Joel 2:32The chapter closes with deliverance for those who call on YHWH, alongside his own call to the remnant.

Where this chapter reaches

Acts quotes Joel’s promise of the Spirit and the signs surrounding the day of YHWH when explaining the events of Pentecost. Romans quotes Joel’s promise that whoever calls on YHWH’s name will be saved, within its account of faith in Jesus.

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After reading the whole chapter

What does the gathering of infants, elders, and newlyweds show you about the scope of Joel’s call?

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How does YHWH’s character in verse 13 shape your reading of the chapter’s warnings?

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Questions people ask about Joel 2

Is the army in Joel 2 an army of locusts or human soldiers?

Joel describes a force that runs like horsemen, climbs walls, and enters houses. Verse 25 names the locusts as God’s great army, while verse 20 speaks of a northern army. Readers differ over whether the imagery describes locusts throughout, human invasion, or locust devastation portraying a further judgment.

What does Joel 2:25 mean by restoring the years the locusts have eaten?

The promise concerns Israel’s ruined harvests and the deprivation caused by the locusts God sent. The surrounding verses describe renewed rain, full threshing floors, and enough food to eat. It promises restoration to this devastated people; the verse does not specify that every personal loss will receive an equivalent replacement.

What does “all flesh” mean in Joel 2:28?

The following lines describe sons and daughters, old and young, and servants and handmaids receiving God’s Spirit. The promise crosses age, sex, and social rank among God’s people. Acts quotes this passage at Pentecost to explain the Spirit’s coming. Joel does not spell out every detail of its future fulfillment.

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Joel · 3 chapters

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).