A day of darkness and thick darkness, A day of cloud and thick darkness, As darkness spread on the mountains, A people numerous and mighty, Like it there hath not been from of old, And after it there is not again--till the years of generation and generation.
Joel 2:1 Blow ye a trumpet in Zion, And shout ye in My holy hill, Tremble do all inhabitants of the earth, For coming is the day of Jehovah, for <FI>it is<Fi> near!
Joel 2:2 A day of darkness and thick darkness, A day of cloud and thick darkness, As darkness spread on the mountains, A people numerous and mighty, Like it there hath not been from of old, And after it there is not again--till the years of generation and generation.
Joel 2:3 Before it consumed hath fire, And after it burn doth a flame, As the garden of Eden <FI>is<Fi> the land before it, And after it a wilderness--a desolation! And also an escape there hath not been to it,
Joel 2:4 As the appearance of horses <FI>is<Fi> its appearance, And as horsemen, so they run.
The verse centers on "darkness", "thick", "cloud", and "spread". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "darkness" and "thick", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 1's "Blow ye a trumpet in Zion And..." into verse 3's "Before it consumed hath fire And after...", so "darkness" and "thick" 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 "darkness" and "thick" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.