Joel 2:12
What does Joel 2:12 mean?
A plain-English look at Joel 2:12 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Joel 2:12 means
Despite the overwhelming judgment, Jehovah mercifully calls His people to return to Him with their whole heart. This repentance is to be expressed through traditional acts of humility: fasting, weeping, and mourning. This verse highlights that even in the midst of severe impending judgment, God extends an invitation for genuine spiritual turning. It emphasizes that the required response is not superficial, but a deep, internal change, signaling that true repentance is still possible and desired by God.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
KJV
King James Version · 1611Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949But even now, says the Lord, come back to me with all your heart, keeping from food, with weeping and with sorrow:
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And also now--an affirmation of Jehovah, Turn ye back unto Me with all your heart, And with fasting, and with weeping, And with lamentation.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Now, therefore, saith the Lord. Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and mourning.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning;
Context
Immediately after declaring the absolute terror and divine origin of the Day of the Lord, this verse introduces a pivotal shift: God's compassionate invitation to repentance. This tender call contrasts sharply with the preceding descriptions of judgment, revealing that even in the face of such devastation, there remains a path to reconciliation before the final, inescapable aspects of the Day of the Lord arrive.
v.11And Jehovah uttereth his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his word; for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
v.12This passage
v.13and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- 1 Kings 8:47
yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have dealt wickedly;
- Jeremiah 29:12
And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
- Lamentations 3:40
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah.
- Jonah 3:5
And the people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
- Isaiah 22:12
And in that day did the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
- 2 Chronicles 7:13
If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
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