Joel 1:15
in Joel 1Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
KJV
Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
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This verse in Joel 1
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Verse 15.) Ah, ah, ah, woe to the day, for the day of the Lord is near, and it will come like a devastation (or storm) from the Almighty. LXX: Woe is me, woe is me, woe is me on that day! For the day of the Lord is near, and it will come like misery upon misery. Because we have translated it as 'from the Almighty,' in Hebrew it is said Saddai (), which is one of the ten names of God, as we have mentioned several times, the LXX translated as misery, reading Sod () instead of Saddai.
This site's exposition
Alas for the day
on Joel 1:15-18
The cry "Alas for the day" opens the book's refrain, "the Day of the LORD is near", which returns at 2:1, 2:11 and 3:14. In Hebrew "destruction from the Almighty" is a wordplay, shod mishaddai, the noun sounding like the divine name Shaddai.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
The day of the Lord - A day of greater trouble than yet they felt, troubles which God will heap upon them. Shall it come - Unless fasting, prayers and amendment prevent.
Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand,....
This Joel was long after that. He here speaks of a sad and sore judgment which was now brought, or to be brought, upon Judah, for their sins. The greatness of the judgment, expressed here in two things:-- 1.
Either they mean the continuance and consequences of this present judgment which they now saw but breaking in upon them, or some greater judgments which this was but a preface to. However it be, this they are taught to make the matter of their lamentation: Alas, for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Alas for the day! for the Day of the Lord is at hand - The judgment of God, then, which they were to deprecate, was still to come. : “All times and all days are God’s. Yet they are said to be our days, in which God leaves us to our own freedom, to do as we will,” and which we may use to repent and turn to Him. “Whence Christ saith, ‘O Jerusalem - if thou hadst known in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace’ Luk 19:
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
day of the Lord-- (Joe 2:1, 11); that is, the day of His anger (Isa 13:9; It will be a foretaste of the coming day of the Lord as Judge of all men, whence it receives the same name.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
Alas for the day! - The Syriac repeats this, the Vulgate, Septuagint, and Arabic, thrice: “Alas, alas, alas, for the day!” As a destruction from the Almighty - The destruction that is now coming is no ordinary calamity; it is as a signal judgment immediately inflicted by the Almighty.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲהָ֖הּ | ʾahah | alas! | H162 → | |
| לַיּ֑וֹם | laiyom | for the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| קָרוֹב֙ | karov | [is] near | H7138 → | 77 times |
| י֣וֹם | yom | [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וּכְשֹׁ֖ד | ukheshod | and like devastation | H7701 → | |
| מִשַׁדַּ֥י | mishadai | from [the] Almighty | H7706 → | |
| יָבֽוֹא׃ | yavo' | it will come | H935 → | 2568 times |
אֲהָ֖הּalas!
ʾahahH162 →
לַיּ֑וֹםfor the day
laiyomH3117 →2304 times
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
קָרוֹב֙[is] near
karovH7138 →77 times
י֣וֹם[the] day of
yomH3117 →2304 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וּכְשֹׁ֖דand like devastation
ukheshodH7701 →
מִשַׁדַּ֥יfrom [the] Almighty
mishadaiH7706 →
יָבֽוֹא׃it will come
yavo'H935 →2568 times
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
Joel 2:31The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD.
it leads to
- Malachi 4:1
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 6:12–13
And when I saw the Lamb open the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black like sackcloth of goat hair, and the whole moon turned blood red,
- Matthew 24:29
Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will…
- Malachi 4:5
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD.
- Malachi 4:1
Through
Jeremiah 30:7How awful that day will be! None will be like it! It is the time of Jacob’s distress, but he will be saved out of it.
it leads to
- Daniel 12:1
“At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress, the likes of which will not have occurred from the beginning…
- Daniel 9:12
You have carried out the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under all of heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been…
- Zechariah 14:1–2
Behold, a day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence.
- Joel 2:11
The LORD raises His voice in the presence of His army. Indeed, His camp is very large, for mighty are those who obey His command. For the Day of the LORD is great and…
- Daniel 12:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
On this chapter
About Joel
This page draws on 9 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); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Joel; 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.