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Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

New Defender's Study Bible Notes

1:15 day of the LORD. “The day of the LORD,” in contrast to “man’s day,” refers to a coming time of judgment. The Lord will take strong control of the world and its inhabitants in severe judgment, after a long time of patient forbearance. This will be followed by cleansing and blessing. Such prophecies often refer to a current situation, such as the plague of locusts, then leap over the centuries to the future end-time judgments, the former being a type of the latter. Sometimes it refers to the entire period of judgment, sometimes to the specific day on which that period will begin. In the prophets, it occurs first in Isaiah 2:12, last in Malachi 4:5. There are other phrases that are used synonymously—“the day of wrath,” “the day of God,” “that day,” etc.


1:19 fire hath devoured. This statement, occurring in both these verses, depicts a scene more awesome than even a plague of locusts could produce. All the trees of the field and all the pastures of the wilderness are scorched with devastating fires. Evidently Joel’s vision at this point carries him forward to the ultimate day of the Lord, the future tribulation period, when there will be a worldwide three and one-half year drought, with no rains and no winds (Revelation 11:3,6; 7:1). The drought will cause global famines (Revelation 6:5,6), and then “hail and fire mingled with blood,…and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up” (Revelation 8:7).


1:20 dried up. Eventually in this time of great judgment, all the rivers “are dried up,” even “the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up” (Revelation 16:12). Undoubtedly lakes will also dry up and even sea level will drop, under great solar heat (Revelation 16:8).


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