Joel 2:3

Before the face thereof shall be fire devouring, and after it shall be burning flame; as a garden of liking the land shall be before them, and wilderness of desert (it) shall be after them, and none is that shall escape them. (At the front, they be like a devouring fire, and at the back, they be like a burning flame; before they come, the land shall be like a Garden of Eden, but after they leave, it shall be a wilderness of the desert, and there is nothing that shall escape them.)

Wycliffe Modern Spelling

In The King James Version

A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

In Context

2for the day of darknesses and of mist is nigh, the day of cloud and of whirlwind. (These locusts be) As the morrowtide spread abroad on hills, (like) a much people and strong. None was like it from the beginning, and after it shall not be, till into years of generation and of generation. (for the day of darkness and of mist is near, the day of cloud and of whirlwind. These locusts be like the morning spread abroad upon the hills, like a strong, innumerable host, or army. Nothing was ever like them before, and after them, nothing shall ever be like them again.)

4The looking of them shall be as the looking of horses; and as horsemen, so they shall run.

Read all of Joel 2

Cross References

Genesis 2:8Forsooth the Lord God planted at the beginning (the) paradise of liking, wherein he set man whom he had formed. (And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and he put the man there whom he had formed.)

Exodus 10:5that shall cover the over-part of the earth, neither anything thereof shall appear, but that, that was left of the hail shall be eaten of (the) locusts; for the locust (s) shall gnaw all the trees that burgeon in [the] fields; (which shall cover the face of the earth, so that none of it can be seen; and what was left by the hail shall be eaten by the locusts, for the locusts shall gnaw all the trees that grow in the fields;)

Psalms 50:3our God, and he shall not be still. Fire shall burn on high in his sight; and a strong tempest in his compass. (our God shall come, and he shall not be silent. Fire shall burn on high before him; and it shall be a strong tempest surrounding him or and a strong tempest shall surround him.)

Isaiah 33:4And your spoils shall be gathered together, as a bruchus, that is, (the) fruit of locusts, is gathered together, as when ditches be full thereof. (And their spoils shall be gathered up, like the gathering of the bruchi, that is, the fruit of the locusts, when the ditches be full of them.)

Jeremiah 5:17And it shall eat thy corns, and it shall devour thy bread, thy sons and thy daughters; it shall eat thy flock, and thy droves, it shall eat also thy vinery, and thy fig tree; it shall all-break thy strong cities with sword, in which thou hast trusted. (And they shall eat thy corn, or thy harvest, and shall devour thy bread, or thy food, and thy sons and thy daughters; they shall eat thy flocks, and thy herds, and they shall eat thy vines, and thy fig trees; and they shall all-break with the sword thy strong cities, in which thou hast trusted.)

Joel 1:4A locust ate the residue of a wortworm, and a bruchus ate the residue of a locust, and rust ate the residue of a bruchus.

Matthew Henry on Joel 2:2-12

Threatenings of Judgment. ( b. c. 720.) 1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; 2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. 3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Joel 2:3