Thy Strong Word — Joel 2:1-17: Rend Your Hearts: The Call to Return to the Lord

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Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain. The army Joel saw in chapter 1 now darkens the whole horizon, and at the head of it the LORD utters His voice; the swarm turns out to be His. That is what makes the appeal in verse 12 possible: return to me with all your heart. Rend your hearts and not your garments, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Everyone is summoned, elders and nursing infants and the bridegroom from his chamber, while the priests weep between the vestibule and the altar: spare your people, O LORD.

The Rev. Dr. Curtis Deterding, pastor emeritus in Fort Myers, FL, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Joel 2:1-17.

Edom stands at the crossroads and watches his brother Judah dragged off in chains, and Obadiah announces that the day of the LORD is coming for the bystander, too. Joel sees a locust swarm strip a nation bare in a single season, calls the people to rend their hearts and not their garments, and promises a Spirit poured out on all flesh. Nahum returns to Nineveh a century after Jonah’s revival, and this time the superpower does not repent. Zephaniah spends two chapters on the day of wrath and then ends with the Lord singing over the people He has rescued. This series on Thy Strong Word works through these selected books of the so-called “minor” prophets verse by verse, showing how the Lord judges the nations while also keeping his promises to gather His people home.

Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

Thy Strong Word is graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation. Through the mission gifts of people like you, LHF translates, publishes, distributes and introduces books that are Bible-based, Christ-centered and Reformation-driven. Learn more at lhfmissions.org.

Joel 2:1-17

The Day of the LORD

[1] Blow a trumpet in Zion;

sound an alarm on my holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near,

[2] a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and thick darkness!

Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains

a great and powerful people;

their like has never been before,

nor will be again after them

through the years of all generations.

[3] Fire devours before them,

and behind them a flame burns.

The land is like the garden of Eden before them,

but behind them a desolate wilderness,

and nothing escapes them.

[4] Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,

and like war horses they run.

[5] As with the rumbling of chariots,

they leap on the tops of the mountains,

like the crackling of a flame of fire

devouring the stubble,

like a powerful army

drawn up for battle.

[6] Before them peoples are in anguish;

all faces grow pale.

[7] Like warriors they charge;

like soldiers they scale the wall.

They march each on his way;

they do not swerve from their paths.

[8] They do not jostle one another;

each marches in his path;

they burst through the weapons

and are not halted.

[9] They leap upon the city,

they run upon the walls,

they climb up into the houses,

they enter through the windows like a thief.

[10] The earth quakes before them;

the heavens tremble.

The sun and the moon are darkened,

and the stars withdraw their shining.

[11] The LORD utters his voice

before his army,

for his camp is exceedingly great;

he who executes his word is powerful.

For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome;

who can endure it?

Return to the LORD

[12] “Yet even now,” declares the LORD,

“return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

[13] and rend your hearts and not your garments.”

Return to the LORD your God,

for he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;

and he relents over disaster.

[14] Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,

and leave a blessing behind him,

a grain offering and a drink offering

for the LORD your God?

[15] Blow the trumpet in Zion;

consecrate a fast;

call a solemn assembly;

[16] gather the people.

Consecrate the congregation;

assemble the elders;

gather the children,

even nursing infants.

Let the bridegroom leave his room,

and the bride her chamber.

[17] Between the vestibule and the altar

let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep

and say, “Spare your people, O LORD,

and make not your heritage a reproach,

a byword among the nations.

Why should they say among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’”

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.