Joel 2:30
What does Joel 2:30 mean?
A plain-English look at Joel 2:30 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Joel 2:30 means
Preceding the Day of the Lord, God promises to display dramatic "wonders in the heavens and in the earth." These include manifestations of blood, fire, and pillars of smoke. Such astounding phenomena serve as cosmic signals, alerting humanity to the approaching time of divine judgment and intervention. This prophetic imagery signifies a period of profound disruption and acts as a sober warning, emphasizing the terrifying and undeniable nature of God’s ultimate visitation upon the world, a prelude to the great and terrible day.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
KJV
King James Version · 1611And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And I will let wonders be seen in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And I have given wonders in the heavens, and in the earth, Blood and fire, and columns of smoke.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And I will shew wonders in heaven; and in earth, blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And I will shew wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
Context
Following the glorious promises of the Spirit's outpouring, this verse shifts focus to the eschatological backdrop against which these events will unfold. It introduces a series of dramatic cosmic signs—blood, fire, and smoke—which serve as harbingers of the coming Day of the Lord, signaling a time of profound divine intervention and setting the stage for even greater celestial disturbances in the next verse.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Revelation 18:18
and cried out as they looked upon the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like the great city?
- Luke 21:11
and there shall be great earthquakes, and in divers places famines and pestilences; and there shall be terrors and great signs from heaven.
- Judges 20:40
But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and, behold, the whole of the city went up in smoke to heaven.
- Matthew 24:29
But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
- Judges 20:38
Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers-in-wait was, that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city.
- Revelation 18:9
And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived wantonly with her, shall weep and wail over her, when they look upon the smoke of her burning,
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