Joel 2:31 (ASV)

Passage

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh.

Nearby Context

Joel 2:29 and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.

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

Joel 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh.

Joel 2:32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, as Jehovah hath said, and among the remnant those whom Jehovah doth call.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "darkness", "shall", "turned", "moon", "blood", "before", "great", and "terrible". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "darkness" and "shall", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 30's "And I will show wonders in the..." into verse 32's "And it shall come to pass that...", so "darkness" and "shall" belong inside that flow. In Joel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "darkness" and "shall" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.