Joel 2:11 (WEB)

Passage

Yahweh thunders his voice before his army; for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?

Nearby Context

Joel 2:9 They rush on the city. They run on the wall. They climb up into the houses. They enter in at the windows like thieves.

Joel 2:10 The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

Joel 2:11 Yahweh thunders his voice before his army; for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?

Joel 2:12 “Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”

Joel 2:13 Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "yahweh", "thunders", "voice", "before", "army", "forces", "very", and "great". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "yahweh" and "thunders", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 10's "The earth quakes before them The heavens..." into verse 12's "Yet even now says Yahweh turn to...", so "yahweh" and "thunders" 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 "yahweh" and "thunders" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.