Joel 2:18 (YLT)

Passage

And let Jehovah be zealous for His land, And have pity on His people.

Nearby Context

Joel 2:16 Gather the people, sanctify an assembly, Assemble the aged, Gather infants and sucklings of the breasts, Go out let a bridegroom from his inner chamber, And a bride out of her closet.

Joel 2:17 Between the porch and the altar weep let the priests, ministrants of Jehovah, And let them say: `Have pity, O Jehovah, on Thy people, And give not Thy inheritance to reproach, To the ruling over them of nations, Why do they say among peoples, Where <FI>is<Fi> their God?'

Joel 2:18 And let Jehovah be zealous for His land, And have pity on His people.

Joel 2:19 Let Jehovah answer and say to His people, `Lo, I am sending to you the corn, And the new wine, and the oil, And ye have been satisfied with it, And I make you no more a reproach among nations,

Joel 2:20 And the northern I put far off from you, And have driven him unto a land dry and desolate, With his face unto the eastern sea, And his rear unto the western sea, And come up hath his stink, And come up doth his stench, For he hath exerted himself to work.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "jehovah", "zealous", "land", "pity", and "people". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "jehovah" and "zealous", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 17's "Between the porch and the altar weep..." into verse 19's "Let Jehovah answer and say to His...", so "jehovah" and "zealous" 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 "jehovah" and "zealous" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.