Bible Compass
Log inGet started
Back to the chapter

Joel 2:3

Eden
Judgment

1 Blow the ram’s horn in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy mountain! Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the Day of the LORD is coming; indeed, it is near—

2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like the dawn overspreading the mountains a great and strong army appears, such as never was of old, nor will ever be in ages to come.

Before them a fire devours, and behind them a flame scorches. The land before them is like the Garden of Eden, but behind them, it is like a desert wasteland— surely nothing will escape them.

4 Their appearance is like that of horses, and they gallop like swift steeds.

5 With a sound like that of chariots they bound over the mountaintops, like the crackling of fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army deployed for battle.

Read the whole chapter

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB
Before them a fire devours, and behind them a flame scorches. The land before them is like the Garden of Eden, but behind them, it is like a desert wasteland— surely nothing will escape them.
KJV
A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
WEB
A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.
ASV
A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and none hath escaped them.
DARBY
A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth; the land is as a garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness: yea, and nothing escapeth them.
BLB
Before its face a fire devours, and behind them burns a flame; like the garden of Eden [is] the land before its face, and behind it a wilderness of desolation—and surely nothing shall escape from them.
ÅB
Foran det fortærer ild, og etter det brenner flammer; som Edens have er landet foran det, og etter det er det en øde ørken, og det er intet som slipper unna det.
OTB
Foran dem fortærer ild,
og bak dem sluker en flamme.
Landet foran dem er som Edens hage,
men bak dem en øde villmark
—ingenting slipper unna dem.
B1930
Foran det fortærer ild, og efter det brenner lue; som Edens have er landet foran det, og efter det er det en øde ørken, og det er intet som slipper unda det.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Isaiah 51:3

    For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.

    Read in context

  • Genesis 2:8

    And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.

    Read in context

  • Joel 1:19–20

    To You, O LORD, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field.

    Read in context

  • Zechariah 7:14

    But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.”

    Read in context

  • Amos 7:4

    This is what the Lord GOD showed me: The Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land.

    Read in context

  • Psalms 50:3

    Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him.

    Read in context

  • Ezekiel 31:8–9

    The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it; the cypresses could not compare with its branches, nor the plane trees match its boughs. No tree in the garden of God could compare with its beauty.

    Read in context

  • Genesis 13:10

    And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

    Read in context