Locusts strip a nation bare, and a promise arrives: the Spirit poured out on everyone.
A devastating locust plague has stripped the land bare—grain, wine, and oil are destroyed, leaving priests with nothing to offer and farmers in despair. Joel calls the elders and all inhabitants to recognize this as unprecedented disaster and to pass the memory to future generations. He summons the people to lament, fast, and cry out to God, for 'the day of the LORD is near.'
Joel's dating is debated; proposals range from the ninth to the fourth century BC. The absence of references to a king, the prominence of priests and elders, and the mention of Greeks (3:6) have led many scholars to favor a post-exilic setting, though the question remains open.
All 32 verses of Joel have a page of their own — what the verse means, who is speaking, and where it sits in the story. Tap any verse number inside a chapter to open it.
Tap any verse in BibleKey for its meaning and background, or any word for its Hebrew or Greek root — without leaving the page.
NIV, NLT, NKJV, KJV and the Berean — plus the Catholic NLT-CE and Douay-Rheims, with the full deuterocanon in the reading order.
Tap any of the 31,102 for what it means, and any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, without leaving the chapter.
Start recording at church and put your phone away. You get the transcript, the key moments, and every verse referenced.
Say what's sitting on your heart and hear it back as a real prayer, in a warm voice. Keep the ones that land.
The whole Bible in a year — five chapters a day, five days a week, weekends off. Built to be finished.
A verse each morning with its meaning, how it lands today, something to sit with, and a prayer to close it.
BibleKey explains what you're reading, as you read it. Free on iPhone and iPad.
Download on the App StoreFree on iPhone & iPad