Joel 1:15 (LSB)

Passage

Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

Nearby Context

Joel 1:13 Gird yourselves with sackcloth And lament, O priests; Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God; For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God.

Joel 1:14 Set apart a fast as holy, Call for a solemn assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of Yahweh your God, And cry out to Yahweh.

Joel 1:15 Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

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

Joel 1:17 The seeds shrivel under their clods; The storehouses are desolate; The barns are pulled down, For the grain is dried up.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "Set apart a fast as holy Call..." into verse 16's "Has not food been cut off before...", so "alas" and "yahweh" 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 "yahweh" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.