Joel 3:15 (DBY)

Passage

The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

Nearby Context

Joel 3:13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down, for the press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Jehovah is at hand in the valley of decision.

Joel 3:15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

Joel 3:16 And Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: and Jehovah will be a shelter for his people, and the refuge of the children of Israel.

Joel 3:17 And ye shall know that I, Jehovah, [am] your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain; and Jerusalem shall be holy, and no strangers shall pass through her any more.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "moon", "shall", "darkened", "stars", "withdraw", and "shining". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "moon" and "shall", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "Multitudes multitudes in the valley of decision..." into verse 16's "And Jehovah will roar from Zion and...", so "moon" 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 "moon" and "shall" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.