Joel 2:31 – Two Interpretations :: By Mark A. Becker

Introduction

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

On the surface, this can be a very confusing verse. Why?

Well, because we know that the conditions described by Joel in his second chapter, verse 31, will occur during the “day of the LORD” – that of God pouring out of His wrath on a God-hating, Christ-rejecting world – but not before!

“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…” – Revelation 6:12

Even the people on Earth will recognize this great earthquake as coming from the wrath of God:

“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” – Revelation 6:15-17

We also know that, according to both Peter and Paul, it will be the rapture of the church that comes “as a thief in the night” that initiates God’s wrath and the ensuing Tribulation, or the Tanakh’s “day of the LORD.”

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night…” – 2 Peter 3:10 [2 Peter 3 – Peter’s ‘Revelation’]

“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:2 [An Examination of the ‘Day of the Lord’]

So, what exactly is going on here? Why does God, through the prophet Joel, say that conditions within the “day of the Lord” – the “sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood” – will occur before the “day of the LORD”? Does that make sense?

After spending some time contemplating Joel 2:31, I have come up with two different interpretations, and both appear to be valid for consideration.

Underlined Scripture passages are my own emphasis.

Interpretation #1: Passage Left ‘As Is’… With Certain Qualifications

The passage can be left as is, with the following qualifications of understanding.

1. The Church and Church Age are Not in View.

Since the church and the church age are largely hidden in the Tanakh (Old Testament), with her mystery being expounded in the Brit Chadashah (New Testament) by Jesus Christ and His Apostles, this qualification should be relatively easy to understand.

Even though we know post-resurrection of Christ that the church and church age were a vital component of God’s plan of redemption, God elected to keep this truth hidden in the Tanakh. Therefore, it should not surprise us that God, through the prophet Joel, would be silent about the day of the LORD being initiated by the rapture of the church.

2. The ‘Day of the LORD’ is Speaking Specifically of Daniel’s 70^th 7.

This qualification fits well into my personal eschatology.

Would it surprise the reader to learn that the “day of the LORD” encapsulates 1,007-plus years?

[For more information on this exciting topic, please see An Examination of the ‘Day of the Lord’ and 2 Peter 3 – Peter’s ‘Revelation.’]

It is therefore incumbent that the student of God’s Word understands that the “day of the LORD” can include many different events within this 1,007-plus year time period, and through careful contextual evaluation, be able to ascertain which aspect of the “day of the LORD” is being spoken of in any given passage.

In our case – if this translation and interpretation is correct – then Joel’s “day of the LORD” would specifically refer and point to Daniel’s 70^th 7, or the seven-year, 2,520-day, Tribulation.

So, how does this fit into my personal eschatology?

Well, most people do not realize that the textual information provided for us makes it more than probable that the six Seal Judgments of Revelation 6 take place in The Gap of unknown time in between the rapture and the beginning of the seven-year, 2,520-day Tribulation that begins with the signing of the covenant between Antichrist, Israel, and the many (Daniel 9:27).

[For more on how the texts of Revelation 6, 7, and 8 position the six Seal Judgments within The Gap, please see Revelation 6: Our Marriage and The Gap and Revelation 7: Bookends of the Tribulation.]

After the earthquake of the sixth Seal in Revelation 6:12, when “the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood,” and the subsequent sealing of the 144,000 Israeli Witnesses, I have proposed through textual evaluation that this is when the signing of the covenant will take place, and this will begin the seven-year, 2,520-day Tribulation – or, as God, through Joel, states: “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.”

Though the wrath of God will obviously begin with Messiah Yeshua’s unsealing of the Seals on the scroll in Revelation 6, Joel’s “day of the LORD” could specifically be referencing the seven-year, 2,520-day Tribulation – or Daniel’s 70^th 7 – only. If this is the case, and only God knows for sure, then this interpretation would suffice.

Interpretation #2: An Alternative Translation

In this interpretation, we return to the thought that even The Gap of unknown time in between the rapture of the church and the beginning of the Tribulation is included within the “day of the LORD,” as all of this will be the wrath of God on a God-hating, Christ-rejecting world.

For full disclosure, we are obligated at the outset to inform the reader that the two Hebrew words “yō·wm Yahweh,” when together as they are in this passage, are consistently translated in the Bible as the phrase, “the day of the Lord.”

The issue regarding this second interpretation becomes can these two words – that literally says “day Yahweh” or “day the LORD,” which we will examine below – be translated slightly differently, or at least thought of differently? Personally, I believe they can. Should they? Let the reader ultimately be the judge.

First, we would do well to look at Joel 2:31 with its surrounding verses for context and as a foundation.

“And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.

“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.” – Joel 2:30-32

Now, as we are prone to do, we will analyze the three verses independently.

“And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.” – Joel 2:30

These conditions seem to be a general description that will prevail following the great earthquake of Revelation 6:12-17 when the sixth Seal is broken, along with any residue left over from the earlier five Seals.

Joel 2:31a, as we have seen, speaks specifically with that of Revelation 6:12, essentially verbatim.

“The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood…” – Joel 2:31a

However, it is Joel 2:31b that seems to be the problem child within this passage when we consider in this scenario that the “day of the LORD” begins with the rapture of the church, as we are informed by Peter and Paul that it does:

“… before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.” – Joel 2:31b

Here is the verse together:

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

The Hebrew translated “before” is לִפְנֵ֗י “lip̄·nê” from 6440 “panim” or “paneh” and means before, in front of, face, in the face of, face to face, of seeing (God), of relations with, presence, in the sight, and many other like definitions.

When it comes to לִפְנֵ֗י “lip̄·nê,” the standard thought, according to Brown-Driver-Briggs, is that of at the face or in front of or before.

The most common translation of this word is the English word before, as something that ties the preceding clause with a following clause; not necessarily immediately following, but something that will follow closely in due course of an unspecified amount of time, yet they are certainly tied together. The one will bring the other.

Now, here is the Text Analysis – which attempts to translate the proper word order in the original Hebrew – of Joel 2:31.

Text Analysis: The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of day of Yahweh the great and awesome.

Our focus, of course, is on “… before the coming of day of Yahweh the great and awesome.”

Here are some observations I discovered when examining this portion of the verse.

The definite article is present in both “great” and “awesome,” so this phrase should read “the great and the awesome.”

The original Hebrew word for “the coming” is 935 בּ֚וֹא “bow,” a word that can also be understood in English as just “coming” or “comes,” as “the” is added by the translators – there is no definite article attached.

It should also be noted that “of” is not in the original in both instances in the Text Analysis (and the one instance in the KJV rendering) – as “of” is added by the translators to the Hebrew word for “day” 3117 י֣וֹם “yō·wm” and “of” is added by the translators to 3068 יְהוָ֔ה “Yahweh.”

Moreover, comes [or coming], day and Yahweh are all stand-alone Hebrew words in the original text with nothing attached to them. Though it should be noted that when translating “LORD” from Yahweh, then “the” – for “the Lord” – would necessarily be implied. We could also say the same for “day,” but the context should dictate when this should occur.

The actual Hebrew word order and the basic translation of each word is as follows:

לִפְנֵ֗י “lip̄·nê” = “before”

בּ֚וֹא “bow” = “come, comes, coming”

י֣וֹם “yō·wm” = “day”

יְהוָ֔ה “Yahweh” = “Yahweh, the LORD”

הַגָּד֖וֹל “hag·gā·ḏōl” = “the great”

וְהַנּוֹרָֽא׃ “wə·han·nō·w·rā” = “and the awesome”

Therefore, utilizing the Text Analysis above and our grammatical observations, and making these minute adjustments, the rendering of the last half of this verse in the original language could literally be read: “… before coming day Yahweh, the great and the awesome.” This certainly does not sound linguistically correct to the English ear – which is frequently the case when it comes to the original languages – but I do see something of interest in these words and what they could be projecting to the reader.

Now, remember, here is how this section is translated by the King James translators: “… before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.”

Taking off the “of” that was added by the translators, adding the definite article to “terrible,” leaving the added “the” to “Lord” as supplied by the translators, and changing “come” to “comes” in the KJV – all of these are totally consistent with what we have learned – the verse would read: “… before the great and the terrible day the Lord comes.”

Another way this last half of verse 31, utilizing the Text Analysis, could be translated in an English vernacular is, “… before [the] day that the great and the awesome Yahweh comes.”

In this context, “… before the great and the terrible day the Lord comes,” or “… before [the] day that the great and awesome Yahweh comes,” would obviously be Messiah Yeshua’s Second Coming, which will occur at the end of the Tribulation, seven-years (2,520 days) after the conditions mentioned in verse 30 and the first half of verse 31.

There is only one translation that I came across that renders this passage in this way (this is not an endorsement of any translation).

“The sun will turn dark, and the moon will be as red as blood before that great and terrible day when I appear.” – Contemporary English Version

Virtually every other translation that I saw renders the verse as the KJV does, but the context, in our interpretive scenario, appears to favor the renderings we have suggested.

Is there another “day of the LORD” passage that focuses in specifically on the returning LORD? Yes. And it is also in Joel chapter 2!

“… the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?” – Joel 2:10-11

In this passage, Joel speaks of the conditions immediately preceding Messiah’s Second Coming when he notes that “the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining,” which Christ Himself prophesied in Matthew 24:29-30:

“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: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

This “day of the LORD” is also “great and very terrible (or awesome),” just as he says in Joel 2:31.

And notice that the LORD’s voice is before His army, which is exactly what we see at Christ’s return in Revelation:

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

“And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.” – Revelation 19:11-14

And, lastly, the focus on the LORD is that He “executeth His Word,” just as we are told He would when He returns:

“And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God… And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.” – Revelation 19:15, 21

“And then shall that Wicked [Antichrist] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming…” – 2 Thessalonians 2:8

The idea behind this verse of Christ’s return – if this is the correct translation and interpretation – seems to be confirmed and summarized in the concluding verse:

Mount Zion/Jerusalem will be delivered by Christ at His Second Coming as He destroys His enemies that are awaiting His return to His holy city. The reason that Antichrist, the False Prophet, and what is left of the world’s armies – all who took The Mark of The Beast – are around Jerusalem flowing all the way down into Bozrah, is because they know the Lord is returning to Jerusalem to deliver the city from their hands. If they can keep Messiah from ruling and reigning in Jerusalem, then they would thwart the plans of God.

Messiah will also save his remnant – both Jew and Gentile – who will be scattered throughout the earth.

Text Analysis of Joel 2:32: And it shall come to pass anyone [That] whoever calls on the name of Yahweh shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance as has said Yahweh; and among the remnant whom Yahweh calls.

I have added my own punctuation in the Text Analysis to show how I believe the breaks in this verse should be read.

There are three main themes in this one verse, which I would like to briefly elaborate on using the Text Analysis.

1. “And it shall come to pass that anyone [that] whoever calls on the name of Yahweh shall be saved,” is quoted by Paul as a general salvific principle when he states, “For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). When it comes to Joel’s usage, the theme is that of those who have called upon the Name of the Lord, have accepted Messiah Yeshua as Savior, and will have survived the Tribulation as He comes back to Earth.

2. “For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance as Yahweh has said,” speaks purely to Mount Zion and Jerusalem as a mountain and city that God repeatedly says he will save, as is summarized in many passages of the Tanakh. [Please see The Valley of Jehoshaphat and ‘Armageddon’ for a listing of some of these passages.] The Israelites, it should be remembered, will be dispersed from the land of Israel one last time in the Great Tribulation to bring them to a saving faith in Messiah Yeshua. And, as we noted above, if the Antichrist and his armies can somehow defeat Jesus Christ at His coming, then they would thwart the promises and plans of God. This, of course, is demented and futile thinking on their part, along with the deluded aspirations of Satan and his dark forces, who are the powers behind their insane objectives!

3. “And among the remnant whom Yahweh calls,” is the remnant of Israel – some who had been dispersed into other nations and others that had fled into the mountains of Petra/Mt. Seir at the Abomination of Desolation at the midway point of the Tribulation. They will be gathered together unto Christ in Jerusalem by His holy angels upon His return (Matthew 24:31). “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion [Zion] the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Romans 11:26 & Isaiah 59:20). Of course, there will also be a remnant of Gentiles, as well, that are known as the Sheep from the Separation of the Sheep and Goats Judgment.

Now, with this fresh in our mind, here is verse 32 as rendered by the KJV.

Our Interpretive Breakdown of Joel 2:30-32:

The conditions that will prevail following the great earthquake of Revelation 6:12-17when the sixth Seal is broken – and the seven-year, 2,520-day Tribulation that is about to commence for the countdown to Messiah’s Second Coming – with Joel 2:31aspeaking specifically with that of Revelation 6:12:

And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood’ – Joel 2:30-31a

The Lord’s Second Coming seven years later, utilizing our suggested KJV rendering:

… before the great and the terrible day the Lord comes. – Joel 2:31b

The salvation and deliverance of the Lord’s remnant, both Israeli and Gentile, and the deliverance of God’s holy mountain and holy city from the Antichrist and his armies – Zion and Jerusalem, respectively:

Bringing It All Together

Here is Joel 2:30-32 in the King James Version with our suggested KJV alteration to verse 31b.

“And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day the Lord comes.

Notice the flow of the passage.

And remember her companion passage earlier in the 2^nd chapter of Joel:

The conditions of Joel 2:10 will be present at Christ’s return, while the conditions of Joel 2:30-31 will occur just seven years (2,520 days) prior to Messiah’s return. Both conditions, however, will obviously occur before the great and the terrible day the Lord comes — that we can be sure.

When the great earthquake of Revelation 6:12 occurs, and “the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,” then those on Earth can be assured that Messiah Yeshua will be coming with the divine countdown soon at hand!

Final Thoughts

Needless to say, I have found myself unable at this point to decide which of these two interpretations I should lean toward. They both have, at least to my mind, strong points to consider.

I pray you have enjoyed this study article that attempts to bring a little more clarity to Joel 2:30-32 through our two interpretive scenarios.

How did we do? We would love to hear from you. And please let us know which interpretive scenario you find yourself leaning toward and why.

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May we all keep Answering the Call of The Great Commission, and giving an answer to every man and woman who so desperately needs Jesus and asks us, “Why Am I Here and What Is It All About?”

Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!

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