Joel 1:15 (WEB)

Passage

Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is at hand, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

Nearby Context

Joel 1:13 Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God’s house.

Joel 1:14 Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders, and all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of Yahweh, your God, and cry to Yahweh.

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

Joel 1:16 Isn’t the food cut off before our eyes; joy and gladness from the house of our God?

Joel 1:17 The seeds rot under their clods. The granaries are laid desolate. The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "alas", "yahweh", "hand", "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 "Sanctify a fast Call a solemn assembly..." into verse 16's "Isn t the food 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.