‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.
Parallel translations
- WEB ‘It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.
- KJV And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
- BSB ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
- NKJV ‘Andit shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
- NASB ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters will prophesy, And your young men will see visions, And your old men will have dreams;
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Joel foretold that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh, with sons and daughters prophesying. It announces the Spirit's gift to all kinds of people.
Overview
The prophecy promises the Spirit poured out broadly across age, gender, and status. Peter sees the 'last days' inaugurated at Pentecost, the era between Christ's first and second comings. This democratized gift marks the new-covenant people empowered for witness.
Cross-references & the web
Quotation
- Joel 2:28“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.
Cross-references · 34
- Joel 2:28–32“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.
- Isa 44:3For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring:
- Titus 3:4–6But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared,
- Acts 10:45They of the circumcision who believed were amazed, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was also poured out on the Gentiles.
- John 7:39But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.
- Zech 12:10I will pour on David’s house, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.
- Ezek 11:19I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;
- Heb 1:2has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.
- 1 Cor 12:28God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages.
- Hos 3:5Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.
- Luke 3:6All flesh will see God’s salvation.’”
- 1 Cor 12:10and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages.
- Acts 21:9Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.
- Isa 66:23It shall happen that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me,” says Yahweh.
- 2 Pet 3:3knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts,
- Zech 2:13Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!”
- Ezek 39:29neither will I hide my face any more from them; for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord Yahweh.
- Rom 5:5and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
- Isa 2:2It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.
- Isa 32:15–16Until the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is considered a forest.
- Ps 72:6He will come down like rain on the mown grass, as showers that water the earth.
- Prov 1:23Turn at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you.
- Mic 4:1But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of Yahweh’s temple will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and peoples will stream to it.
- Isa 40:5Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”
- John 17:2even as you gave him authority over all flesh, he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
- Gen 49:1Jacob called to his sons, and said: “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come.
- Isa 49:26I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they will be drunk on their own blood, as with sweet wine. Then all flesh shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
- 1 Cor 14:26–31What is it then, brothers? When you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has another language, has an interpretation. Let all things be done to build each other up.
- Dan 10:14Now I have come to make you understand what shall happen to your people in the latter days; for the vision is yet for many days:
- Ezek 36:25–27I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
- Jas 5:3Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.
- Gen 6:12God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
- Ps 65:2You who hear prayer, to you all men will come.
- Acts 11:28One of them named Agabus stood up, and indicated by the Spirit that there should be a great famine all over the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius.
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Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 2:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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