6. What terrible vision does Joel first see?

⁶ Insect invasion strips the land; day of Jehovah near (1:1–2:11). What a terrible vision of calamity Joel sees! A devastating onslaught by the caterpillar, the locust, the creeping unwinged locust, and the cockroach. Vines and fig trees have been stripped bare, and starvation stalks the land. There are no grain or drink offerings for the house of Jehovah. Joel warns the priests and ministers of God to repent. “Alas for the day,” he cries out, “because the day of Jehovah is near, and like a despoiling from the Almighty One it will come!” (1:15) Animals wander in confusion. Flames have scorched the pastureland and trees, and the wilderness has been seared by fire.

7. How is Jehovah’s invading military force described?

⁷ Sound the alert! “Blow a horn in Zion, O men, and shout a war cry in my holy mountain.” (2:1) The day of Jehovah is near, a day of darkness and thick gloom. Look! A people numerous and mighty. They turn the Edenlike land into a desolate wilderness. Nothing escapes. Like horses and with a sound like chariots on the mountaintops they run. Like a people in battle order they rush into the city, climbing on walls and houses and through windows. The land is agitated and the heavens rock. Jehovah is in command of this numerous military force. “The day of Jehovah is great and very fear-inspiring, and who can hold up under it?”​—2:11.

There will be terrifying portents in sun and moon before the coming of the day of Jehovah. Yet some will survive. “It must occur that everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe.”​—2:28-32.

10. What is to take place in the low plain of Jehoshaphat?

¹⁰ Nations to be judged in “plain of Jehoshaphat” (3:1-21). Jehovah will bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem. The nations will be gathered; Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia will pay dearly for reproaching and enslaving Jehovah’s people. Listen to Jehovah as he challenges the nations: “Sanctify war! Arouse the powerful men! Let them draw near! Let them come up, all the men of war!” (3:9) Let them beat plowshares into swords and come up to the low plain of Jehoshaphat (meaning “Jehovah Is Judge”). Jehovah’s command rings out: “Thrust in a sickle, for harvest has grown ripe. . . . The press vats actually overflow; for their badness has become abundant. Crowds, crowds are in the low plain of the decision, for the day of Jehovah is near.” (3:13, 14) Sun and moon become dark. Jehovah roars out of Zion, causing heaven and earth to rock, but he proves to be a refuge and fortress for his own people. They will have to know that he is Jehovah their God.

13. (a) What striking similarities can be seen between Joel and Revelation? (b) What parallels to Joel are to be found with other prophecies?

¹³ Striking similarities can be seen between the locust plague described by Joel and the plague prophesied in Revelation chapter 9. Again the sun is darkened. The locusts resemble horses prepared for battle, they make a sound like that of chariots, and they have teeth like those of lions. (Joel 2:4, 5, 10; 1:6; Rev. 9:2, 7-9) Joel’s prophecy at Joel 2:31, which tells of the sun turning into darkness, is paralleled as an event by the words at Isaiah 13:9, 10 and Revelation 6:12-17, and also at Matthew 24:29, 30, where Jesus shows the prophecy to apply at the time he comes as the Son of man with power and great glory. The words of Joel 2:11, “the day of Jehovah is great and very fear-inspiring,” are apparently referred to at Malachi 4:5. Parallel descriptions of this ‘day of darkness and thick gloom’ are also to be found at Joel 2:2 and Zephaniah 1:14, 15.

14. What passages in Joel magnify Jehovah’s sovereignty and his loving-kindness?

¹⁴ The prophecy of Revelation looks forward to “the great day” of divine wrath. (Rev. 6:17) Joel also prophesies of that time, showing that when the great “day of Jehovah” comes upon the nations, those who call on him for protection and deliverance “will get away safe.” “Jehovah will be a refuge for his people.”