Joel 2:6
in Joel 2Nations writhe in horror before them; every face turns pale.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
At their presence the peoples are in anguish; all faces are waxed pale.
KJV
Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.
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This verse in Joel 2
Commentary
10 notes on this verseAll faces shall gather blackness - Universal mourning shall take place, because they know that such a plague is irresistible.
This site's exposition
Before their face the people shall be much pained
on Joel 2:6-9
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.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Chapter 2 — Verses 1 onwards) Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like the dawn spreading over the mountains, a large and strong people appears, such as has never been before and will never be again in generations to come. Before them, a devouring fire; behind them, a blazing flame.
And so he will deserve to fulfill, likewise, those other words that have a bearing in this connection: "buried together with him by baptism unto death." For what purpose? "That as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life." He who is dead must be buried, and he who is buried in the likeness of death must rise again by the grace of God in Christ.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), as the merchants are in pain for their trading ships when they hear they are just in the mouth of a squadron of the enemies. "One is in pain for his field, another for his vineyard, and all faces gather blackness, " which denotes the utmost consternation imaginable.
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An earnest call to repentance, ver. 12-17. A promise of all good things to the penitent, ver. 18-27. A prophecy of the Messiah's kingdom, ver. 28-32.
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Before their face the people shall be much pained,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
A serious call to the people, when they are under this sore judgment, to return and repent, to fast and pray, and to seek unto God for mercy, with directions how to do this aright,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
much pained--namely, with terror. The Arab proverb is, "More terrible than the locusts." faces shall gather blackness-- (Isa 13:8; MAURER translates, "withdraw their brightness," that is, wax pale, lose color (compare Joe 2:10;
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A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Before their face the people shall be much pained - The locust being such a scourge of God, good reason have men to be terrified at their approach; and those are most terrified who have most felt the affliction. In Abyssinia, some province of which was desolated every year, one relates , “When the locusts travel, the people know of it a day before, not because they see them, but they see the sun yellow and the ground yellow, through the shadow which they cast on it (their wings being yellow) and immediately the people become as dead, saying, ‘we are lost, for the Ambadas (so they call them) are coming.’ I will say what I have seen three times; the first was at Barva. During three years that we were in this land, we often heard them say, ‘such a realm, such a land, is destroyed by locusts:’ and when it was so, we saw this sign, the sun was yellow, and the shadow on the earth the same, and the whole people became as dead.” “The Captain of the place called Coiberia came to me with men, Clerks, and Brothers (Monks) to ask me, for the love God, to help them, that they were all lost through the locusts.” : “There were men, women, children, sitting among these locusts, the young brood, as stupefied. I said to them ‘why do you stay there, dying? Why do you not kill these animals, and avenge you of the evil which their parents have done you? and at least when dead, they will do you no more evil.’ They answered, that they had no courage to resist a plague which God gave them for their sins. We found the roads full of men, women, and children, (some of these on foot, some in arms) their bundles of clothes on their heads, removing to some land where they might find provisions. […]
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִפָּנָ֖יו | mipanav | from before it | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| יָחִ֣ילוּ | yachilu | they are in anguish | H2342 → | |
| עַמִּ֑ים | ʾamim | peoples | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| פָּנִ֖ים | panim | faces | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| קִבְּצ֥וּ | kibetzu | they gather | H6908 → | 127 times |
| פָארֽוּר׃ | farur | a glow | H6289 → |
מִפָּנָ֖יוfrom before it
mipanavH6440 →2123 times
יָחִ֣ילוּthey are in anguish
yachiluH2342 →
עַמִּ֑יםpeoples
ʾamimH5971 →1873 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
פָּנִ֖יםfaces
panimH6440 →2123 times
קִבְּצ֥וּthey gather
kibetzuH6908 →127 times
פָארֽוּר׃a glow
farurH6289 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 30:6Ask now, and see: Can a male give birth? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor and every face turned pale?
it leads to
- Nahum 2:10
She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 4:31
For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child—the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands to…
- Isaiah 21:3
Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see.
- Jeremiah 22:23
O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you, agony like a woman in labor.”
- Psalms 48:6
Trembling seized them there, anguish like a woman in labor.
- Nahum 2:10
Through
Nahum 2:10She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!
it leads to
- Daniel 5:6
his face grew pale and his thoughts so alarmed him that his hips gave way and his knees knocked together.
- Psalms 22:14
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me.
- Daniel 5:6
Through
Lamentations 4:8But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.
it leads to
- Lamentations 5:10
Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.
- Lamentations 5:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About Joel
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Basil of Caesarea, CONCERNING BAPTISM 1:2; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentaries on the Twelve; Jerome, Commentary on Joel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.