Joel 2:31
What does Joel 2:31 mean?
A plain-English look at Joel 2:31 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Joel 2:31 means
Before the arrival of the great and terrible Day of Jehovah, there will be further dramatic celestial disturbances: the sun will be darkened, and the moon will turn to blood. These powerful signs in the heavens signify a universal upheaval, reflecting the severity and finality of God’s impending judgment. Such phenomena are meant to awaken humanity to the profound significance of God’s final intervention, emphasizing that His ultimate day of reckoning and deliverance is approaching rapidly, and with unmistakable signs for all to witness.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh.
KJV
King James Version · 1611The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949The sun will be made dark and the moon turned to blood, before the great day of the Lord comes, a day to be feared.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862The sun is turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, Before the coming of the day of Jehovah, The great and the fearful.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood: before the great and dreadful day of the Lord doth come.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890The sun shall be changed to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come.
Context
Building on the cosmic signs introduced in verse 30, this verse intensifies the imagery by specifically mentioning the darkening of the sun and the moon turning to blood. It frames these powerful celestial events as direct precursors to the "great and terrible day of Jehovah," vividly illustrating the dramatic shifts in the natural order that will signal the approach of ultimate divine judgment and deliverance.
v.30And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
v.31This passage
v.32And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, as Jehovah hath said, and among the remnant those whom Jehovah doth call.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Malachi 4:1
For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
- Matthew 27:45
Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
- Revelation 6:12
And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood;
- Isaiah 13:9
Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
- Joel 3:1
For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
- 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:
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