Joel 1:15 (DBY)

Passage

Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Nearby Context

Joel 1:13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests; howl, ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the oblation and the drink-offering are withholden from the house of your God.

Joel 1:14 Hallow a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the elders, [and] all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Jehovah your God, and cry unto Jehovah.

Joel 1:15 Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Joel 1:16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

Joel 1:17 The seeds are rotten under their clods, the granaries are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "alas", "jehovah", "hand", "destruction", "almighty", "shall", and "come". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "alas" and "jehovah", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "Hallow a fast proclaim a solemn assembly..." into verse 16's "Is not the food cut off before...", so "alas" and "jehovah" 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 "alas" and "jehovah" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.