Read & explore together
The Army of Locusts
Joel 2:1–11 sounds an alarm. The passage describes the coming day of Yahweh with urgent warning, dark imagery and an unstoppable army, so readers feel both the seriousness of the message and the greatness of Yahweh.
Understanding the passage
The setting of this message
In these verses, Joel speaks as an alarm is raised in Zion and on Yahweh’s holy mountain. The passage stays in prophetic language, describing a day that is close, marked by darkness, fear, destruction and the commanding voice of Yahweh over his army.
Joel 2:1–11Main takeaway
Joel 2:1–11 teaches that the day of Yahweh is near, overwhelming and under Yahweh’s command.
Explore the message
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01An alarm for a day that is nearThe passage begins with a trumpet and an alarm in Zion. The sound is a warning for everyone in the land to tremble because the day of Yahweh is coming and is close.
Explanation
The passage begins with a trumpet and an alarm in Zion. The sound is a warning for everyone in the land to tremble because the day of Yahweh is coming and is close. Joel presents this day as urgent, not distant, so the people must hear its seriousness.
02Darkness and a devastating advanceJoel describes the day as darkness, gloominess, clouds and thick darkness. Then he speaks of a great and strong people unlike any before or after.
Explanation
Joel describes the day as darkness, gloominess, clouds and thick darkness. Then he speaks of a great and strong people unlike any before or after. Their advance leaves destruction behind them: what was like the garden of Eden becomes a desolate wilderness, and no one escapes.
03Swift, loud and disciplinedThe army’s appearance is compared to horses and horsemen. Their movement sounds like chariots and fire, and they are like a strong people ready for battle.
Explanation
The army’s appearance is compared to horses and horsemen. Their movement sounds like chariots and fire, and they are like a strong people ready for battle. Others are thrown into anguish, while this force moves with discipline, staying in line and not swerving or breaking ranks.
04No barrier stops them, and Yahweh leadsThe army reaches the city, wall and houses, entering through windows like thieves. Their coming shakes earth and heaven, and even sun, moon and stars are darkened.
Explanation
The army reaches the city, wall and houses, entering through windows like thieves. Their coming shakes earth and heaven, and even sun, moon and stars are darkened. The final explanation is that Yahweh thunders before his army. The day is great and very awesome, raising the question of who can endure it.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What words in verse 1 show that Joel wants people to respond with urgency?
Notice the trumpet, the alarm, the command for inhabitants to tremble, and the reason given that the day of Yahweh is close.
02How does Joel describe the army’s effect on the land?
Compare the picture of the land before them with the picture behind them, and include the statement about escape.
03According to the end of the passage, whose army is this and why is the day so awesome?
Look for who speaks or commands, whose forces are described as great, and the closing question of endurance.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Joel 2:1–11
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 Yahweh 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.
4Their appearance is as the appearance of horses, and they run as horsemen.
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.
11Yahweh thunders his voice before his army, for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?