They swarm over the city and run along its walls. They enter all the houses, climbing like thieves through the windows.
Parallel translations
- WEB They rush on the city. They run on the wall. They climb up into the houses. They enter in at the windows like thieves.
- KJV They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
- BSB They storm the city; they run along the wall; they climb into houses, entering through windows like thieves.
- NKJV They run to and fro in the city, They run on the wall; They climb into the houses, They enter at the windows like a thief.
- NASB They storm the city, They run on the wall; They climb into the houses, They enter through the windows like a thief.
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
The invaders overrun the city, scaling walls and entering houses through the windows like thieves. No place remains secure from them.
Overview
Joel depicts the army penetrating every defense, even slipping into homes through windows, an image fitting locusts and a marauding force alike. The likeness to thieves conveys how unstoppable and invasive the judgment is. Nothing is safe when God's judgment comes; the verse intensifies the warning and the call to seek the Lord's mercy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Jer 9:21For death has come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.
- John 10:1“Most certainly, I tell you, one who doesn’t enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
- Exod 10:6Your houses shall be filled, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; as neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.’” He turned, and went out from Pharaoh.
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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 2:9 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.