Joel 2 · Verse 31

Joel 2:31

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
Joel 2:31, King James Version

Joel 2:31 in other translations

BSBThe sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD.
WEBThe sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.
ASVThe sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh.
YLTThe sun is turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, Before the coming of the day of Jehovah, The great and the fearful.
DARBYThe sun shall be changed to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come.
BBEThe sun will be made dark and the moon turned to blood, before the great day of the Lord comes, a day to be feared.
WebsterThe sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD shall come.

What does Joel 2:31 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joel 2:30-31

30-31. As Messiah's manifestation is full of joy to believers, so it has an aspect of wrath to unbelievers, which is represented here. Thus when the Jews received Him not in His coming of grace, He came in judgment on Jerusalem. Physical prodigies, massacres, and conflagrations preceded its destruction [Josephus, Wars of the Jews]. To these the language here may allude; but the figures chiefly symbolize political…

Read the full comment on Joel 2:30-31 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness - The Jewish polity, civil and ecclesiastical, shall be entirely destroyed. Before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come - In the taking and sacking of Jerusalem, and burning of the temple, by the Romans, under Titus, the son of Vespasian. This was, perhaps, the greatest and most terrible day of God's vengeance ever shown to the world, or that ever will be shown, till the great day of the general judgment. For a full view of this subject, I wish to refer the reader to the notes on Matthew 24.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Joel 2:28-32

The promise began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out, and it was continued in the converting grace and miraculous gifts conferred on both Jews and Gentiles. The judgments of God upon a sinful world, only go before the judgment of the world in the last day. Calling on God supposes knowledge of him, faith in him, desire toward him, dependence on him, and, as evidence of the…

Read the full comment on Joel 2:28-32 →

Joel 2:31 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הַשֶּׁ֙מֶשׁ֙ha.She.meshthe sunH8121
יֵהָפֵ֣ךְye.ha.Fekhit will be changedH2015
לְחֹ֔שֶׁךְle.Cho.shekhinto darknessH2822
וְהַיָּרֵ֖חַve.hai.ya.Re.achand the moonH3394
לְדָ֑םle.Daminto bloodH1818
לִפְנֵ֗יlif.Nei<to> beforeH6440
בּ֚וֹאBo'comesH935
י֣וֹםYom[the] day ofH3117
יְהוָ֔הYah.wehYahwehH3068
הַגָּד֖וֹלha.ga.Dol<the> greatH1419
וְהַנּוֹרָֽא\׃ve.ha.no.Ra'and <the> awesomeH3372

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Joel 2:31

  • Revelation 6:12-13

    And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

  • Matthew 24:29

    Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

  • Malachi 4:1

    For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

  • Malachi 4:5

    Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

  • Joel 3:15

    The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

  • Zephaniah 1:14-16

    The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.

  • Mark 13:24-25

    But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.

  • Joel 2:10

    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:

  • Isaiah 13:9-10

    Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

  • Luke 21:25

    And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

  • Joel 3:1

    For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

  • Matthew 27:45

    Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
sun.
10; 3:1,15; Isa 13:9,10; 34:4,5; Mt 24:29; 27:45; Mr 13:24,25
Lu 21:25; Re 6:12,13
the great.
Zep 1:14-16; Mal 4:1,5

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Joel 2:30

    And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

  • Joel 2:31

    The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.

  • Joel 2:32

    And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

Read all of Joel 2

Joel 2:31 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
El sol se tornará en tinieblas, y la luna en sangre, antes que venga el día grande y espantoso de Jehová.
German
Elberfelder 1871
die Sonne wird sich in Finsternis verwandeln und der Mond in Blut, ehe der Tag Jehovas kommt, der große und furchtbare. -
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Sol convertetur in tenebras, et luna in sanguinem, antequam veniat dies Domini magnus et horribilis.