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Before them the earth quakes, The heavens tremble, The sun and the moon become dark, And the stars lose their brightness.
Joel 2:10 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
  • KJV The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
  • BSB Before them the earth quakes; the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness.
  • NKJV The earth quakes before them, The heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars diminish their brightness.
  • NLT The earth quakes as they advance, and the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine.

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

Before this army the earth quakes, the heavens tremble, and sun, moon, and stars go dark. Cosmic upheaval accompanies the day of Yahweh.

Overview

Joel describes creation itself convulsing as the host advances, with the heavenly lights darkened. Such cosmic disturbance is a recurring sign of God's great judgments in the prophets and is taken up in the New Testament concerning the last day (Matthew 24:29). The verse lifts the locust plague into the larger scope of the day of Yahweh, pointing to God's ultimate intervention in history.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 19

  • Matt 24:29But immediately after the oppression of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;
  • Isa 13:10For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going out, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.
  • Joel 3:15–16The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
  • Ps 18:7Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.
  • Acts 2:20The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.
  • Mark 13:24–25But in those days, after that oppression, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light,
  • Ezek 32:7–8When I shall extinguish you, I will cover the heavens, and make its stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light.
  • Jer 4:23I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
  • Rev 6:12I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood.
  • Nah 1:5The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it.
  • Isa 34:4All of the army of the sky will be dissolved. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll, and all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree.
  • Rev 8:12The fourth angel sounded, and one third of the sun was struck, and one third of the moon, and one third of the stars; so that one third of them would be darkened, and the day wouldn’t shine for one third of it, and the night in the same way.
  • Joel 2:31The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.
  • Luke 21:25–26There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; and on the earth anxiety of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the waves;
  • Ps 114:7Tremble, you earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
  • Joel 2:2A 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.
  • Amos 5:8seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name,
  • Matt 27:51Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split.
  • Rev 20:11I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (7)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Joel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Joel 2:10YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JoelMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 2:10 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.