Joel · WEB-C
Joel
2
Bible textSynthetic voice (AI)
Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD comes, for it is close at hand: See also: Joel 1:15Joel 2:151 Peter 4:7A 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. See also: Joel 1:6Zephaniah 1:14-15Amos 5:18-20A 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. See also: Isaiah 51:3Genesis 2:8Joel 1:19-20Their appearance is as the appearance of horses, and they run as horsemen. See also: Revelation 9:7Like 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. See also: Revelation 9:9Isaiah 5:24Isaiah 30:30At their presence the peoples are in anguish. All faces have grown pale. See also: Nahum 2:10Isaiah 13:8Jeremiah 30:6They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like warriors. They each march in his line, and they don’t swerve off course. See also: Proverbs 30:27Isaiah 5:26-292 Samuel 2:18-19One doesn’t jostle another. They each march in their own path. They burst through the defenses and don’t break ranks. See also: Nehemiah 4:232 Chronicles 32:52 Chronicles 23:10They rush on the city. They run on the wall. They climb up into the houses. They enter in at the windows like thieves. See also: Jeremiah 9:21John 10:1Exodus 10:6The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. See also: Matthew 24:29Isaiah 13:10Joel 3:15-16The LORD thunders his voice before his army, for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of the LORD is great and very awesome, and who can endure it? See also: Malachi 3:2Nahum 1:6Jeremiah 30:7“Yet even now,” says the LORD, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.” See also: James 4:8-9Isaiah 55:6-72 Chronicles 7:13-14Tear your heart and not your garments, and turn to the LORD, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity. See also: Psalms 86:15Psalms 34:18Isaiah 57:15Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering to the LORD, your God. See also: Jonah 3:9Haggai 2:19Jonah 1:6Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. See also: Joel 1:14Joel 2:1Numbers 10:3Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts. Let the bridegroom go out of his room, and the bride out of her chamber. See also: 2 Chronicles 20:132 Chronicles 29:51 Corinthians 7:5Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare your people, LORD, and don’t give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” See also: Psalms 115:2Ezekiel 8:16Psalms 79:10Then the LORD was jealous for his land, and had pity on his people. See also: Zechariah 8:2Psalms 103:13Zechariah 1:14The LORD answered his people, “Behold, I will send you grain, new wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied with them; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. See also: Ezekiel 34:29Ezekiel 36:15Isaiah 62:8-9But I will remove the northern army far away from you, and will drive it into a barren and desolate land, its front into the eastern sea, and its back into the western sea; and its stench will come up, and its bad smell will rise.” Surely he has done great things. See also: Zechariah 14:8Deuteronomy 11:24Isaiah 34:3Land, don’t be afraid. Be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things. See also: Zephaniah 3:16-17Psalms 126:1-3Isaiah 41:10Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness spring up, for the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength. See also: Zechariah 8:12Isaiah 51:3Psalms 65:12“Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD, your God; for he gives you the early rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the early rain and the latter rain, as before. See also: James 5:7-8Philippians 4:4Leviticus 26:4The threshing floors will be full of wheat, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. See also: Amos 9:13Malachi 3:10Joel 3:18I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you. See also: Zechariah 10:6Joel 1:4-7Joel 2:2-11You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied, and will praise the name of the LORD, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and my people will never again be disappointed. See also: Romans 10:11Psalms 22:26Deuteronomy 12:7You will know that I am among Israel, and that I am the LORD, your God, and there is no one else; and my people will never again be disappointed. See also: Ezekiel 37:26-28Leviticus 26:11-12Zephaniah 3:17“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. See also: Acts 2:16-21Ezekiel 39:29Isaiah 32:15And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit. See also: 1 Corinthians 12:13Galatians 3:28Colossians 3:11I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke. See also: Acts 2:19-20Luke 21:11Matthew 24:29The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. See also: Revelation 6:12-13Matthew 24:29Malachi 4:1It will happen that whoever will call on the LORD’s name shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the remnant, those whom the LORD calls. See also: Romans 10:11-14Acts 2:20-21Isaiah 46:13
See also: Cross references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), derived in part from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Reflections
No reviewed reflections for this passage yet.
Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)27 notes
Notes in English 19th-century Catholic commentary by Fr. George Leo Haydock, shown as published.
These notes keep the polemics of their time: some speak harshly of the Jewish people or of other Christians. The Church teaches otherwise today. The Jewish people may not be blamed for the death of Christ (Nostra Aetate 4; Catechism 597–598), and Christians of other communities are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Christian unity
Joel 2:1
Ver. 1. Blow. The prophets often ordered, to signify what will take place. W. ---
The people were gathered by the sound of trumpets. The danger from the locusts was imminent; and all are exhorted to avert it, by praying in the temple,
&c. --- Tremble at the sound. Amos iii. 6. C. ---
Extemplò turbati. Virgil, Æneid viii. --- Lord. That is, the time when he will execute justice on sinners, (Ch.) and suffer affliction to fall upon them. W. C. i.
15.
↑ 1Joel 2:2
Ver. 2. Darkness. This implies great misery. v. 10. C. --- People. The Assyrians or Chaldeans.
Others understand all this of the army of locusts laying waste the land. Ch. ---
Morning; unexpectedly, (C.) and soon. H. --- No human force can prevent the ravages of the locusts ---
Beginning, in Palestine. Moses says the same; but speaks of Egypt. Ex. x. 14.
↑ 2Joel 2:3
Ver. 3. Flame. They destroy all by their bite. C. i. 12. C. Theod. --- Pleasure. Heb.
"Eden."
So luxuriant was Palestine.
↑ 3Joel 2:4
Ver. 4. Horsemen. The head of a locust bears some resemblance with that of a horse, and its flight is rapid. Apoc. ix. 7. C.
↑ 4Joel 2:5
Ver. 5. Mountains. "The beat their wings so loudly, that they may be taken for other birds."
Pliny xi. 29. --- They are much larger in hot climates, (C. i. 6. H.) and may be heard at the distance of two miles, (Bochart) darkening the air for the space of four leagues. Yet this description is poetical, and perhaps an allegory is nowhere better kept up.
↑ 5Joel 2:6
Ver. 6. Kettle. The Jews were naturally of a dark complexion. Fear causing the blood to retire, would make them black. Is. xiii. 8. Lam. iv. 8. and v. 10. C.
↑ 6Joel 2:7
Ver. 7. Ranks. Locusts march like a regular army. Theod. --- No fortification can keep them out.
H.
↑ 7Joel 2:8
Ver. 8. Brother. S. Jerom saw a cloud of them in Judea. They were not "a finger-nail's breadth from each other." C. --- The Arabs discover the military art in them. Bochart. --- They invested France (A. 874) with all the skill of an army, the chiefs marking out the place for the camp the night before. Sigebert. ---
Windows. They eat the wood, (H.) and the windows were simple lattices or curtains. C. --- Heb. "they fall upon the sword, and shall not be hurt." Sept.
"consumed or filled." H. --- They are never satisfied. Theod.
↑ 8Joel 2:10
Ver. 10. Shining. The cloud of locusts intercepts the light; or, people in distress think all nature is in confusion. S. Jer. Ezec. xxxii. Jer. iv. 23. --- Aloysius (13.) saw locusts in the air for the space of twelve miles; and among the Cossacks, clouds of them may be found six leagues in length and three in breadth. They frequently occasion a famine in Ethiopia. C.
↑ 10Joel 2:11
Ver. 11. Voice; thunder, (H.) or the noise of locusts. v. 5. C.
↑ 11Joel 2:12
Ver. 12. Mourning. For moving the heart to repentance these external works are requisite, at least in will: if they be wilfully omitted, it is a sure sign that the heart is not moved. S. Jer. W.
↑ 12Joel 2:13
Ver. 13. Garments, as was customary in great distress. God will not be satisfied with mere external proofs of repentance. C. --- Evil. He will forego his threats if we do penance. S. Jer. ---
He punishes unwillingly. Is. xxviii. 21.
↑ 13Joel 2:14
Ver. 14. Who knoweth. Confidence in God and repentance must accompany prayer. --- Blessing; plentiful crops, so that the usual sacrifices may be performed again. C. i. 9.
↑ 14Joel 2:15
Ver. 15. Trumpet. Thus were festivals announced. Num. x. 7.
↑ 15Joel 2:16
Ver. 16. Sanctify. Let all make themselves ready to appear. --- Ones. Their cries would make an impression on men, and prevail on God to shew mercy. Judith iv. 9.
↑ 16Joel 2:17
Ver. 17. Altar of holocausts. They turned towards the holy place, lying prostrate. 1 Esd. x. 1.
and 2 Mac. x. 26. C. --- Hither the victim of expiation was brought, and the high priest confessed. Maimon. --- Over them, as they might easily have done during the famine.
↑ 17Joel 2:18
This 19th-century note uses polemical language; read it in the light of the note at the top of this panel.
Ver. 18. Zealous. Indignation is excited when a person perceives any thing contemned which he loves. So God resented the injuries done maliciously by the Gentiles towards his people; though he often punished them for their correction or greater merit. W. --- He will resent the blasphemies uttered by infidels against his holy name, and will restore fertility to the land. C.
↑ 18Joel 2:19
Ver. 19. Nations. This did not take place till after the seventy years captivity, nor then fully. It is verified in true believers, and after death in the glory of the saints. W.
↑ 19Joel 2:20
Ver. 20. The northern enemy. Some understand this of Holofernes and his army, others of the locusts. Ch. --- Prot. "the northern army. " Heb. may denote (H.) wind. This often drives away locusts. Those here spoken of were drowned in the Mediterranean and Dead Seas. C. --- This occasioned a pestilence, (S.
Jer. S. Aug. de Civ. Dei. iv. 31.) to prevent which the locusts were to be speedily buried. Is. xxxiii. 4. --- Proudly. Heb. "great things." God, or the locusts are meant.
↑ 20Joel 2:22
Ver. 22. Strength; fruit, as formerly.
↑ 22Joel 2:23
Ver. 23. Teacher; Joel, &c. or rather the Messias. John i. 9. Mat. xxiii. 8. Some translate Heb.
"rain." Sept. "meat," (C.) sufficient for the people. Theod.
↑ 23Joel 2:24
Ver. 24. Presses, or subterraneous reservoirs.
↑ 24Joel 2:25
Ver. 25. Host. God could have hurled his thunderbolts, or mountains, to destroy all mankind; but he chooses to shew their insignificance, (C.) by employing the vilest insects, which they cannot withstand. S. Jer.
↑ 25Joel 2:28
Ver. 28. After. From this verse to the end the prophet speaks of the times succeeding the captivity, and more especially of the propagation of the gospel.
The enemies of God's people shall be destroyed, (C. iii. 1.) which seems to refer to Cambyses. Ezec. xxxviii. C. --- My spirit.
This plainly foretells the coming of the Holy Ghost. Acts ii. W. --- The Jews never had such a multitude of prophets after the captivity as the Church had. 1
Cor. xiv. 24. What relates to them was only a shadow of what would befall true believers.
↑ 28Joel 2:29
Ver. 29. Handmaids. Sept. of S. Jer. and S. Peter read, my handmaids. "My," is omitted in both places in Complut. and Heb. and the latter word in the Rom.
Sept..
↑ 29Joel 2:30
Ver. 30. Wonders. Many prodigies preceded the persecution of Epiphanes, the death of Christ, the ruin of the temple, and more will be seen before the day of judgment. Though we cannot prove the same with respect to Cambyses, it suffices that the people were thrown into the utmost consternation (v. 2. 11.) when he forebade the building of the temple, (1 Esd. iv. 6.) and designed to plunder them. Ezechiel (xxxviii. 11.) speaks of the same event, as the Jews assert. Ctesias also mentions that when he offered sacrifice, the victims would not bleed; and that his wife, Roxana, brought forth a child without a head, implying, according to the magi, that he should have no heir.
His mother also frequently appeared, and reproached him with the murder of his brother. See C.
iii. 15. Ezec. xxxviii. 22.
↑ 30Joel 2:32
Ver. 32. Call. Amid these fears, those who trust in the Lord shall have nothing to suffer.
Cambyses could not execute his designs. But the prophet here alludes still more to the conversion of the Gentiles. Acts ii. 21. Rom. x. 13. Some returned from Babylon, as a figure of this great event. Only a few Jews embraced the faith. C. --- Salvation. Sept. "shall be saved, as the Lord hath spoken, and the person preaching the gospel, whom the Lord hath called." H.
↑ 32License: Notes by Fr. George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), from the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock's commentary (first ed. Thomas Haydock, Manchester/Dublin, 1811–1814; New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1859); New Testament notes compiled with Fr. Benedict Rayment. Public domain. Digital text: "The Haydock Bible", Internet Archive (archive.org/details/TheHaydockBible), uploaded 2011 under the Public Domain Mark. · Credits and licenses