Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
Parallel translations
- WEB Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is at hand, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
- KJV Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
- BSB Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
- NASB Woe for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
- NLT The day of the Lord is near, the day when destruction comes from the Almighty. How terrible that day will be!
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 cries out that the day of Yahweh is near, coming as destruction from the Almighty. The locust plague is a foretaste of God's larger day of judgment.
Overview
Here Joel names the central theme of his book, the day of Yahweh, the time when God decisively intervenes to judge. The present calamity is a sign and preview of that greater day. The word for 'destruction' echoes the name 'Almighty' (Shaddai), stressing God's overwhelming power. This day points forward to the final judgment, from which only those who turn to God in Christ will be delivered.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Isa 13:6–9Wail; for the day of Yahweh is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
- Jer 30:7Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
- Zeph 1:14–18The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of Yahweh. The mighty man cries there bitterly.
- Ezek 7:2–12“You, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end has come on the four corners of the land.
- Joel 2:11Yahweh thunders his voice before his army; for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?
- Joel 2:31The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.
- Jas 5:9Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.
- Rev 6:17for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”
- Joel 2:1–2Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh comes, for it is close at hand:
- Luke 19:41–44When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it,
- Amos 5:16–18Therefore Yahweh, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: “Wailing will be in all the wide ways; and they will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’ and they will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.
- Ps 37:13The Lord will laugh at him, for he sees that his day is coming.
- Ezek 12:22–28“Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days are prolonged, and every vision fails?’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The promised outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh and the call to 'everyone who calls on the name of the LORD' are fulfilled at Pentecost in the name of Jesus.
How Joel 1:15 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.