Joelchapter 2
32 verses · KJVJoel book hub →
Key verse
Blow ye 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 cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
It stands in Blow the trumpet: an army spread like dawn on the mountains, verses 1 to 11.
The chapter
Chapter summary
'Blow ye the trumpet in Zion', the locust army becomes the army of the day of Jehovah, a day of darkness and gloominess, of clouds and thick darkness. Before them the land is as the garden of Eden, behind them a desolate wilderness; they climb the wall and enter the windows like a thief, while sun and moon darken and the stars withdraw their shining. Then the great summons: 'rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God; for he is gracious and merciful' (2:13). God answers: 'I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten' (2:25), and then, 'I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh' (2:28), the prophecy Peter reads over Pentecost.
Context
Prophecy · Joel · Joel overview
The world behind this chapter
Joel 2The history
The horn blown in Zion is the alarm, the same instrument a watchman used when an army was sighted. Sounding it from the temple mount meant everyone in the city and the surrounding villages heard it at once.
The army described in the middle is a swarm seen closely, and the details are accurate. A locust's head really is shaped like a horse's, Arabic and Italian folk names for the insect say so, the sound of a swarm's wings over dry brush is a crackling roar, they climb walls and go in at windows because nothing stops them, and the sun genuinely dims behind a dense swarm.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The assembly is described by who must come, and the list is the point. Elders, children, nursing infants, and even the bridegroom out of his chamber and the bride out of her room, a wedding was the one occasion that excused a man from every public duty, including military service. Nothing is excused here.
The place named for the priests is architectural. In the temple courts, the porch of the sanctuary stood behind the great altar of burnt offering, and the strip of pavement between them was where officiating priests stood. Weeping there put them exactly between the people and the presence.
What it meant to them
Rend your heart and not your garments is aimed at a culture where tearing your clothes was the visible, expected sign of grief. Joel does not forbid the gesture; he says the gesture is worthless if the heart underneath it is intact.
Then the promise: the years the locust has eaten will be restored, the early and latter rains will come as before, and God will pour out his Spirit on all flesh, sons and daughters, old and young, male and female servants alike. Peter stood up on Pentecost and said the crowd was watching this happen. Read forward, the same chapter runs on to the day of the LORD, when the sun is darkened and the moon turned to blood before the Lord returns to reign, events the church still awaits.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services
Where the chapter sits
Joel 2 falls in Spirit poured out; nations judged; Zion blessed (chapters 2:28–3:21). ‘I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh’ (2:28–29, Peter, Acts 2:17–21); the valley of decision; the LORD dwells in Zion.
The great day; the Spirit promised. ‘Rend your heart, and not your garments’ (2:13); ‘I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh’ (2:28).
Before it: Locust plague and call to return, chapters 1–2.
The whole shape of Joel→The structure of this chapter
Threads running through this chapter
- The Spirit poured out on all fleshPattern, vv. 28 to 32
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Blow the trumpet: an army spread like dawn on the mountains
1. (vv. 1-2)
Joel 2:1
“Blow ye the trumpet - The trumpet was accustomed to sound in Zion, only for religious uses; to call together the congregations for holy meetings, to usher in the beginnings of their months and their solemn days with festival gladness. Now in Zion itself, the stronghold of the kingdom, the Holy City, the place which God chose to put His Name there, which He had promised to establish, the trumpet was to be used, only for sounds of alarm and fear. Alarm could not penetrate there, without having pervaded the whole land.”
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Joel 2:1
“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain,.... This is spoken to the priests, whose business it was to blow the trumpets for calling solemn assemblies to meet in Zion, the temple built there, called from thence the holy mountain of God.”
Joel 2:1
“By the law many annual feasts were appointed, but only one day in the year was to be observed as a fast, the day of atonement, a day to afflict the soul; and, if they had kept close to God and their duty, there would have been no occasion to observe any more; but now that they had by sin brought the judgments of God upon them they are often called to fasting.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joel 2:2
“A day of darkness, etc - The depredations of the locusts are described from the second to the eleventh verse, and their destruction in the twentieth. Dr. Shaw, who saw locusts in Barbary in 1724 and 1725, thus describes them: - “I never observed the mantes, bald locusts, to be gregarious. But the locusts, properly so called, which are so frequently mentioned by sacred as well as profane writers, are sometimes so beyond expression.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion: sounds the same alarm that closed chapter 1's refrain, now as a battle signal in the holy mountain itself, the day of the Lord announced as near rather than merely at hand. A day of darkness and of gloominess piles up four near-synonyms for darkness in one verse, and there hath not been ever the like states the coming army's scale in absolute terms, which the commentators take as marking either an unprecedented locust year or a figure for a still future judgment beyond anything history has seen. The chapter's central question, whether this description continues the literal locust plague of chapter 1 or moves to a symbolic invading army, opens here and the positions are named through the chapter rather than settled at any one verse.
2. (vv. 3-5)
Joel 2:3
“A fire - The Chaldeans, as a fire shall utterly consume all things. Behind them - What is left behind is as burnt with a flame. As Eden - Fruitful and pleasant.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 2:3
“A fire devoureth before them ... - Travelers, of different nations and characters, and in different lands, some unacquainted with the Bible words, have agreed to describe under this image the ravages of locusts. : “They scorch many things with their touch.” : “Whatever of herb or leaf they gnaw, is, as it were, scorched by fire.” : “Wherever they come, the ground seems burned, as it were with fire.” : “Wherever they pass, they burn and spoil everything, and that irremediably.” : “I have myself observed that the places where they had browsed were as scorched, as if the fire had passed there.” : “They covered a square mile so completely, that it appeared, at a little distance, to have been burned and strewn over with brown ashes.”
Joel 2:4
“The appearance of horses - The head of the locust is remarkably like that of the horse; and so Ray on Insects describes them: Caput oblongum, equi instar, prona spectans - “They have an oblong head, like to that of a horse, bending downward.” On this account the Italians call them cavaletta, cavalry. Bochart remarks, from an Arabic writer, that the locusts resemble ten different kinds of animals: 1. The Horse in its head. 2. The Elephant in its eyes. 3. The Bull in its neck. 4. The Stag in its horns. 5. The Lion in its breast.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 2:4
“The locust's head is so like that of a horse that the Italians call it cavalette. Compare Job 39:20, "the horse . . . as the grasshopper," or locust. run--The locust bounds, not unlike the horse's gallop, raising and letting down together the two front feet.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Joel 2:5
“Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains shall they leap - The amazing noise of the flight of locusts is likened by those who have heard them, to all sorts of deep sharp rushing sounds. One says , “their noise may be heard six miles off.” Others , “within a hundred paces I heard the rushing noise occasioned by the flight of so many million of insects.”
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 2:5
“Like the noise of chariots--referring to the loud sound caused by their wings in motion, or else the movement of their hind legs. on the tops of mountains--MAURER connects this with "they," that is, the locusts, which first occupy the higher places, and thence descend to the lower places.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
A fire devoureth before them: , and behind them a flame burneth pictures the swarm's approach and its wake, the land as the garden of Eden before them and a desolate wilderness behind, Eden and its ruin separated only by the locusts' own passing. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses draws a comparison ancient and modern observers of locust swarms have both made independently, the insect's head resembling a horse's in shape, which the older commentators offer as evidence the description still runs on a real plague rather than a coded reference to cavalry. The noise of chariots on the tops of mountains gives the swarm's sound its own simile, a dry rushing roar the verse itself compares to fire crackling in stubble.
3. (vv. 6-9)
Joel 2:6
“All faces shall gather blackness - Universal mourning shall take place, because they know that such a plague is irresistible.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joel 2:7
“They shall run like mighty men - They are on God’s message, and they linger not, “but rejoice to run their course” Psa 19:5. “The height of walls cannot hinder the charge of the mighty; they enter not by the gates but over the walls” , as of a city taken by assault. People can mount a wall few at a time; the locusts scale much more steadily, more compactly, more determinately, and irresistibly. The picture unites the countless multitude, condensed march, and entire security of the locust with the might of warriors.”
Joel 2:8
“Neither shall one thrust another--that is, press upon so as to thrust his next neighbor out of his place, as usually occurs in a large multitude. when they fall upon the sword--that is, among missiles. not be wounded--because they are protected by defensive armor [GROTIUS].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 2:8
“They shall not be wounded - They have hard scales like a coat of mail; but the expression refers to the utter uselessness of all means to prevent their depredations. See Shaw’s account above.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joel 2:9
“Runs to and fro - This seems not proper to these insects, but it well suits with soldiers, that conquer a city and search all places for plunder. Run upon the wall - To clear the wall of all the besieged. The houses - Either forsaken by the inhabitants, or defended by such as are in them.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Before their face the people shall be much pained: , all faces gather blackness, a description of terror that reads equally of a village facing locusts or of a village facing an army, which is the crux the commentators return to across the chapter. Verses 7 through 9 describe a discipline no ordinary insect swarm needs named for it, they shall not break their ranks, neither shall one thrust another, each marching in his own path, and older commentators from Jerome forward have taken the military precision as figurative language for the locusts' own uncanny orderliness rather than proof of a human army. They shall enter in at the windows like a thief closes the description on total, unstoppable penetration, no threshold able to keep the invader out.
4. (vv. 10-11)
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.”
2 more voices on this verse
Joel 2:10
“The earth shall quake - the heavens shall tremble - Poetical expressions, to point out universal consternation and distress. The earth quaked to see itself deprived of its verdure; the heavens trembled to find themselves deprived of their light. The sun and the moon shall be dark - Bochart relates that “their multitude is sometimes so immense as to obscure the heavens for the space of twelve miles!” - Ibid. p. 479.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joel 2:10
“But, though this is to be understood figuratively, there is a day coming when it will be accomplished in the letter, when the heavens shall be rolled together like a scroll, and the earth, and all the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. Particular judgments should awaken us to think of the general judgment.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The earth shall quake before them: , the heavens shall tremble universalizes the plague's effect from Judah's fields to the sky itself, sun, moon, and stars withdrawing their light, language the New Testament reuses again for the day of the Lord. The Lord shall utter his voice before his army names the invader's true commander, whatever army is meant, locust or human, it marches at his voice and not merely by nature's course. The question that ends verse 11, who can abide it, receives no answer in the text, and the chapter turns at once from description to appeal.
B. Rend your heart and not your garmentsvv. 12-14
turn ye even to me with all your heart: is given as the Lord's own word rather than the prophet's appeal, the pivot the whole book turns on, judgment described for a chapter and a half now met with an invitation rather than a sentence already passed. Rend your heart, and not your garments contrasts inward repentance with the outward custom of tearing clothes, not rejecting the gesture but insisting the heart is what the Lord requires. Who knoweth if he will return and repent leaves the outcome genuinely open, the commentators noting that Joel offers no guarantee, only the character of the Lord as gracious and merciful, slow to anger, the same formula given at Exodus 34:6, as the ground for hope.
Joel 2:13
“Devout fasting has a very great value for gaining the mercy of God and for strengthening human frailty. We know this from the teaching of holy prophets, dearly beloved. They insist that the arousal of divine justice—which the people of Israel frequently brought upon themselves in punishment for their wickedness—could not be placated except by fasting. Joel the prophet warns us in saying, "The Lord God says these things: 'Turn to me with all your heart, in fasting, in weeping and in mourning. Rend your hearts, and not your garments.”
Leo the Great· written before 461· SERMON 88:1patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Joel 2:13
“And rend your heart, and not your garments,.... Which latter used to be done in times of distress, either private or public, and as a token of grief and sorrow, Gen 37:34; nor was it criminal or unlawful, the apostles themselves used it, Act 14:14; nor is it absolutely forbidden here, only comparatively, that they should rend their hearts rather than their garments; or not their garments only, but their hearts also; in like sense as the words in Hos 6:6; are to be taken as rending garments was only an external token of sorrow and might be done hypocritically.”
Joel 2:13
“And rend your hearts and not your garments - that is, “not your garments only” (see the note at Hos 6:6). The rending of the clothes was an expression of extraordinary uncontrollable emotion, chiefly of grief, of terror, or of horror. At least, in Holy Scripture it is not mentioned as a part of ordinary mourning, but only upon some sudden overpowering grief, whether public or private . It was not used on occasion of death, unless there were something very grievous about its circumstances.”
Joel 2:14
“He will return - God doth not move from one place to another; but when he withholds his blessings, he is said to withdraw himself. And so when he gives out his blessing, he is said to return. And leave a blessing behind him - Cause the locusts to depart before they have eaten up all that is in the land.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
C. Let the priests weep between the porch and the altarvv. 15-17
Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast: The call to fast repeats 1:14 almost word for word but widens its guest list, the bridegroom out of his chamber and the bride out of her closet, exempting no one from the assembly, not even a household on its wedding day. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar places the intercessors at the one spot between the people's court and God's own altar, pleading spare thy people rather than merely leading a ritual. The closing question, wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God, appeals to the Lord's own reputation among the nations, an argument the commentators trace to Moses' intercession after the golden calf at Exodus 32:12.
Joel 2:15
“Blow the trumpet in Zion,.... For the calling of the people together to religious duties, which was one use of the silver trumpets made for and blows by the priests, Num 10:2; sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; See Gill on Joe 1:14.”
2 more voices on this verse
Joel 2:15
“Since, as I said, there are many kinds of proclamations, let us listen to the trumpet blast of the prophet: "Blow a trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast." This is a warning trumpet, and it earnestly commands us that when we fast, we should do it in a holy manner, for God is holy and has pleasure in his holy people. Not everyone, however, who calls upon God honors him. Some defile him—although they don't actually defile him: that's impossible. But they do defile their own consciences concerning him.”
Athanasius of Alexandria· written before 373· FESTAL LETTERS 1patristic
Joel 2:15
“Blow the trumpet--to convene the people (Nu 10:3). The nation was guilty, and therefore there must be a national humiliation. Compare Hezekiah's proceedings before Sennacherib's invasion (2Ch 30:1-27).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Joel 2:16
“MAURER translates, "appoint a solemn assembly," which would be a tautological repetition of Joe 2:15. elders . . . children--No age was to be excepted (2Ch 20:13). bridegroom--ordinarily exempted from public duties (De 24:5; compare 1Co 7:5, 29). closet--or, nuptial bed, from a Hebrew root "to cover," referring to the canopy over it.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Joel 2:17
“Who will cry aloud, "Spare your people, O Lord, and do not give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them"? Noah, Job and Daniel stood together as men of prayer. Who will pray for us, that we might have a slight respite from warfare and recover ourselves?”
Gregory of Nazianzus· written before 390· IN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT TO PONTUS, ORATION 2:89patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 2:17
“It was between the porch and the altar that Zechariah the son of Jehoiada was put to death for his faithfulness; that precious blood God would require at their hands, and therefore, to turn away the judgment threatened for it, there they must weep. Words here are put into their mouths, which they might in their prayers enlarge upon.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
D. Restoring the years the locust has eaten
1. (vv. 18-20)
Joel 2:18
“Then will the Lord be jealous for His land - Upon repentance, all is changed. Before, God seemed set upon their destruction. It was His great army which was ready to destroy them; He was at its head, giving the word. Now He is full of tender love for them, which resents injury done to them, as done to Himself. The word might more strictly perhaps be rendered, “And the Lord is jealous” .”
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 2:18
“Then--when God sees His people penitent. be jealous for his land--as a husband jealous of any dishonor done to the wife whom he loves, as if done to himself. The Hebrew comes from an Arabic root, "to be flushed in face" through indignation.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Joel 2:19
“I will send you corn ... - This is the beginning of the reversal of the threatened judgments. It is clear from this, and still more from what follows, that the chastisements actually came, so that the repentance described, was the consequence, not of the exhortations to repentance, but of the chastisement. What was removed was the chastisement which had burst upon them, not when it was ready to burst. What was given, was what before had been taken away.”
Joel 2:20
“I will remove far off from you the northern army - “That is, the locusts; which might enter Judea by the north, as Circassia and Mingrelia abound with them. Or the locusts may be thus called, because they spread terror like the Assyrian armies, which entered Judea by the north. See Zep 2:13.” - Newcome.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 2:20
“When Egypt was eased of the plague of locusts they were carried away to the Red Sea, Exod. x. Note, When an affliction has done its work it shall be removed in mercy, as the locusts of Canaan were from a penitent people, not as the locusts of Egypt were removed, in wrath, from an impenitent prince, only to make room for another plague.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Then will the Lord be jealous for his land: marks the turn the whole chapter has been driving toward, a tense the older commentators read as the Lord's response following directly from the repentance just called for. The answer of corn, wine, and oil restores exactly what 1:10 named as lost, the plague's inventory reversed item for item. The northern army driven into a land barren and desolate has drawn readings across the centuries, older writers commonly identifying it with the locust host itself blown out toward the sea, and other commentators reading a real invading army, human or otherwise, the positions named without either side claiming certainty the text does not give.
2. (vv. 21-24)
Joel 2:21
“Fear not, O land - Before, they were bidden to tremble Joe 2:1, now they are bidden, “fear not;” before, “to turn in weeping, fasting and mourning;” now, “to bound for joy and rejoice;” before, “the land mourned;” now, “the land is bidden to rejoice.” The enemy had “done great things;” now the cause of joy is that God had “done great things;” the Almightiness of God overwhelming and sweeping over the might put forth to destroy.”
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 2:21
“In an ascending gradation, the land destroyed by the enemy, the beasts of the field, and the children of Zion, the land's inhabitants, are addressed, the former two by personification.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Joel 2:22
“As before (Joe 1:18, 20) he represented the beasts as groaning and crying for want of food in the "pastures," so now he reassures them by the promise of springing pastures.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Joel 2:23
“Be glad then and rejoice in the Lord your God - All things had been restored for their sakes; they were to rejoice, not chiefly in these things, but in God; nor only in God, but in the Lord their God. “For He hath given you the former rain moderately.” The word rendered “moderately” should be rendered “unto righteosness;” the word often as it occurs never having any sense but that of “righteousness;” whether of God or man.”
4 more voices on this verse
Joel 2:23
“Be glad then, ye children of Zion,.... The people of the Jews, and especially the spiritual and believing part of them; such as were born again, that were born of Zion, and born in Zion, and brought up by her, and in her; the children of that Zion or Jerusalem that is the mother of us all; and who were looking for the Messiah, and to whom it would be good news and glad tidings to hear of his coming, Zec 9:9; and rejoice in the Lord your God; not in any creature or creature enjoyment, but in the Lord.”
Joel 2:23
“The former rain - The autumn rain which is needful to mellow the earth and fit it to receive the corn. The latter rain - Needful to bring forward and ripen the fruits, accounted the latter rain because these husbandmen and vine-dressers reckoned from seed time to spring and harvest. The first month - That is, our March.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joel 2:23
“The Margin, "a teacher of righteousness," is wrong. For the same Hebrew word is translated "former rain" in the next sentence, and cannot therefore be differently translated here.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Joel 2:23
“But others understand it of any prophet that instructs unto righteousness, and some of Hezekiah particularly, others of Isaiah. Note, It is a good sign that God has mercy in store for a people when he sends them teachers of righteousness, pastors after his own heart.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joel 2:24
“And the floors shall be full of wheat,....”
Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: Fear not, O land turns the address for the first time from people to land itself, echoed at verse 22 to the beasts of the field, the whole created order addressed in turn as the plague's reversal reaches every party the plague had touched. The former rain and the latter rain names Israel's two rainy seasons, autumn planting rain and spring ripening rain, both promised together in the first month, an agricultural completeness rather than a partial mercy. The floors full of wheat and the fats overflowing with wine and oil answers 1:10's drink offering cut off with abundance restored to overflowing rather than merely to sufficiency.
3. (vv. 25-27)
Joel 2:25
“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten - The order in which these destroyers are named not being the same as before, it is plain that the stress is not on the order, but on the successiveness of the inroads, scourge after scourge.”
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 2:25
“Though, in justice, he distrained upon them, and did them no wrong, yet, in compassion, he makes restitution; as the father of the prodigal, upon his return, made up all he had lost by his sin and folly, and took him into his family, as in his former estate.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joel 2:26
“Some expositors understand these promises figuratively, as pointing at gospel-grace, and having their accomplishment in the abundant comforts that are treasured up for believers in the covenant of grace and the satisfaction of soul they have therein.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joel 2:27
“It was the burden of the threatenings in Ezekiel's prophecy, Such and such evils I will bring upon you, and you shall know that I am the Lord; and the same is here made the crown of the promises: You shall eat, and be satisfied, and rejoice, and thus you shall know that I am the Lord.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten: I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten gives the promise its most quoted line, restoration measured not merely in produce but in years, the plague's full span made good. My great army which I sent among you names the locust host as the Lord's own army without contradicting the earlier description, the same instrument used in judgment and then withdrawn in mercy, which the commentators take as settling that whatever else chapter 2 pictures, the Lord's own hand directed it throughout. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel closes the section on covenant presence restored, my people shall never be ashamed repeated at both verse 26 and verse 27 for emphasis.
E. I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh
1. (vv. 28-29)
Joel 2:28
“Shall prophesy - This was in part fulfilled according to the letter in the first days of the gospel; but the promise means farther, by pouring out of the spirit on your sons and your daughters, they shall have as full a knowledge of the mysteries of God's law, as prophets before time had. Shalt dream dreams - This also was literally fulfilled in the apostles days.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
4 more voices on this verse
Joel 2:28
“Shall come to pass afterward - אחרי כן acharey ken, “after this;” the same, says Kimchi, as in the latter days, which always refers to the days of the Messiah; and thus this prophecy is to be interpreted: and we have the testimony of St. Peter, Act 2:17, that this prophecy relates to that mighty effusion of the Holy Spirit which took place after the day of pentecost. Nor is there any evidence that such an effusion took place, nor such effects were produced, from the days of this prophet till the day of pentecost.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joel 2:28
“And it shall come to pass afterward,.... After the teacher of righteousness has been sent, and a plentiful rain of the Gospel has been let down in the land of Judea, in the ministry of John the Baptist, Christ and his apostles, and such a comfortable enjoyment of the blessings of grace in it, and the knowledge of God by it; and after the wonderful work of redemption wrought by Christ. R.”
Joel 2:28
“That was the gift of the Spirit, which, according to this prediction, was to come, and we are not to look for any other, any more than for another accomplishment of the promise of the Messiah. The blessing itself here promised is the pouring out of the Spirit of God, his gifts, graces, and comforts, which the blessed Spirit is the author of.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joel 2:28
"Prophesying" in the New Testament is applied to all speaking under the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and not merely to foretelling events. All true Christians are "priests" and "ministers" of our God (Isa 61:6), and have the Spirit (Eze 36:26, 27). Besides this, probably, a special gift of prophecy and miracle-working is to be given at or before Messiah's coming again.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Joel 2:28
- Quoted inActs 2:16“No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:”
touto estin to eiremenon dia tou prophetou ('this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel'), the demonstrative fulfillment frame 'this is that', Peter at Pentecost; eiremenon = perf. pass. participle of g2046
- Quoted inActs 2:17“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.”
'I will pour out of my Spirit', Peter at Pentecost ('this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel')
Joel 2:29
“And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour my Spirit. Men servants and maidservants should partake of the gifts and grace of the Spirit in great, abundance; and many of them were effectually called by grace, through the ministry of the word; and some servants became ministers of it; all which appears from 1Co 7:21; for that is not true what the Jews (p) say, the Shechinah or divine Majesty does not rest but upon a wise man, and one mighty and rich; or prophecy, as Maimonides (q) has it. (p) T. Bab.”
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 2:29
“And also upon the servants - God tells beforehand that he would be no respecter of persons. He had said, that He would endow every age and sex. He adds here, and every condition, even that of slaves, both male and female. He does not add here, that they shall prophesy.”
I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh is the verse Peter stood and quoted at length on the day of Pentecost, this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, reading afterward as the last days now begun in Christ, per Acts 2:16-21. Sons and daughters, old men and young men, and the servants and the handmaids are named together, a spirit poured out across every line that had divided who could prophesy, sex, age, and social rank alike, which the commentators read as the promise's own reach beyond Israel's leaders to the whole believing people. The word translated pour out pictures abundance rather than a measured portion, the same verb used of rain, and stands behind the older writers' reading of Pentecost as the outpouring this verse named centuries in advance.
2. (vv. 30-32)
Joel 2:30
“Wonders in the heavens and in the earth - This refers to those dreadful sights, dreadful portents, and destructive commotion, by which the Jewish polity was finally overthrown, and the Christian religion established in the Roman empire. See how our Lord applies this prophecy, Mat 24:29 (note), and the parallel texts.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Joel 2:30
“Wonders - They who read what historians report of these times, will see this fulfilled in the very letter. Blood - Possibly eruption of blood, as some fountains have been reported to have run with blood, prefiguring the great effusion of blood by the sword, and wars following.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joel 2:30
“Further, the Lord has announced to us that at the dissolution of the universe, signs will appear in the sun, in the moon and in the stars. The sun shall be turned into blood and the moon shall not give her light, signs of the consummation of all things.”
Basil of Caesarea· written before 379· HOMILIES ON THE HEXAEMERON 6:4patristic
Joel 2:30
“As Messiah's manifestation is full of joy to believers, so it has an aspect of wrath to unbelievers, which is represented here. Thus when the Jews received Him not in His coming of grace, He came in judgment on Jerusalem.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Joel 2:31
“The sun - Having mentioned the prodigies which were to be wrought on earth, he now specifies what shall be done in heaven. The terrible day - The unholy day of the destruction of Jerusalem; typifying the day of judgment.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joel 2:32
“Return, then, to the Church, those of you who have wickedly separated yourselves. For He promises forgiveness to all who are converted, since it is written: "Whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved." And lastly, the Jewish people who said of the Lord Jesus, "He hath a devil," and "He casteth out devils through Beelzebub," and who crucified the Lord Jesus, are, by the preaching of Peter, called to baptism, that they may put away the guilt of so great a wickedness.”
Ambrose of Milan· written before 397· Concerning Repentance, Book 2, Chapter 4.26patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Joel 2:32
“Therefore, Jesus is JEHOVAH; and the phrase means, "Call on Messiah in His divine attributes." shall be delivered--as the Christians were, just before Jerusalem's destruction, by retiring to Pella, warned by the Saviour (Mt 24:16); a type of the spiritual deliverance of all believers, and of the last deliverance of the elect "remnant" of Israel from the final assault of Antichrist.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Joel 2:32
“Whosoever shall call - Who hearing the gospel repents and believes in Christ. Delivered - Either from those outward afflictions, or which is infinitely better from eternal miseries, which will swallow up the unbelieving world; "and it will aggravate the ruin of those who perish, that they might have been saved on such easy terms." Is it then easy for a non-elect to repent and believe?”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joel 2:32
“Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord - כל אשר יקרא בשם יהוה col asher yikra beshem Yehovah, “All who shall invoke in the name of Jehovah.” That Christ is the Jehovah here mentioned appears plain from Rom 10:15, where the reader had better consult the notes. “This refers,” says Bp. Newcome, “to the safety of the Christians during the Jewish and the Roman war.” It may: but it has a much more extensive meaning, as the use of it by St. Paul, as above, evidently shows.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joel 2:32
- Quoted inRomans 10:13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
'Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved'
And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke, with the sun turned into darkness and the moon into blood, is quoted by Peter as belonging to the same Pentecost announcement, though its fulfillment the commentators generally place nearer the day of the Lord itself than the day of the outpouring, a distinction Peter's own sermon holds without resolving. Before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come marks these signs as its herald rather than the day itself, language the New Testament reuses for both the aftermath of Christ's first coming and a still future consummation, positions named across the tradition and not adjudicated here. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered is quoted twice in the New Testament, at Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:13, Paul reading it as the gospel's own universal offer, salvation opened to whosoever rather than reserved to a single nation, the chapter's own furthest reach.
This page carries no textual note on Joel 2. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jerome, Commentaries on the Twelve; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
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