2:23 former rain moderately. The repentance of the people (Joel 2:12-17) and the divine defeat of their enemies will be accompanied by the ending of the terrible drought and other pestilences. The idyllic conditions described in Joel 2:19-27 must refer to the millennial period that follows the period of great tribulation. The rainfall will be gentle and dispersed through the year, perhaps as in the primeval world again (Genesis 2:6), rather than in the form of rare violent storms.