Joel 2:10

Amplified Bible

The earth quakes before them, The heavens tremble, The sun and the moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The earth quakes before them;the sky shakes.The sun and moon grow dark,and the stars cease their shining.

Hebrew Names Version
The eretz quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, And the stars withdraw their shining.

King James Version
The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

English Standard Version
The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

New American Standard Bible
Before them the earth quakes, The heavens tremble, The sun and the moon become dark, And the stars lose their brightness.

New Century Version
Before them, earth and sky shake. The sun and the moon become dark, and the stars stop shining.

Geneva Bible (1587)
The earth shal tremble before him, ye heauens shal shake, the sunne & the moone shalbe darke, & the starres shal withdraw their shining,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Before them the earth quakes, The heavens tremble, The sun and the moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness.

Legacy Standard Bible
Before them the earth trembles;The heavens quake;The sun and the moon grow dark,And the stars lose their brightness.

Berean Standard Bible
Before them the earth quakes; the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness.

Contemporary English Version
They make the earth tremble and the heavens shake; the sun and moon turn dark, and stars stop shining.

Complete Jewish Bible
At their advance the earth quakes, and the sky shakes, the sun and moon turn black, and the stars stop shining.

Darby Translation
The earth quaketh before them; the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

Easy-to-Read Version
Before them, earth and sky shake. The sun and the moon become dark, and the stars stop shining.

George Lamsa Translation
The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining.

Good News Translation
The earth shakes as they advance; the sky trembles. The sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine.

Lexham English Bible
Before them the earth quakes; the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars have withheld their splendor

Literal Translation
The earth shall quake before them, the heavens shall shake. The sun and moon shall grow dark, and the stars shall gather in their light.

American Standard Version
The earth quaketh before them; the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

Bible in Basic English
The earth is troubled before them and the heavens are shaking: the sun and the moon have become dark, and the stars keep back their shining:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Before them the earth quaketh, the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon are become black, and the stars withdraw their shining.

King James Version (1611)
The earth shall quake before them, the heauens shall tremble, the Sun & the Moone shall be darke, & the starres shall withdrawe their shining.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The earth shall quake before him, the heauens shall tremble, the sunne and the moone shalbe darke, and the starres shall withdrawe their shinyng.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Before them the earth shall be confounded, and the sky shall be shaken: the sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their light.

English Revised Version
The earth quaketh before them; the heavens tremble: the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining:

World English Bible
The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, And the stars withdraw their shining.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The erthe tremblide of his face, heuenys weren mouyd, the sunne and the moone weren maad derk, and sterris withdrowen her schynyng.

Update Bible Version
The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

Webster's Bible Translation
The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

New English Translation
The earth quakes before them; the sky reverberates. The sun and the moon grow dark; the stars refuse to shine.

New King James Version
The earth quakes before them, The heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars diminish their brightness.

New Living Translation
The earth quakes as they advance, and the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine.

New Life Bible
The earth shakes in front of them. The heavens shake. The sun and the moon become dark, and the stars stop shining.

New Revised Standard
The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Before him, hath quaked the earth, have trembled the heavens, - the sun and the moon, have become dark, and, the stars, have withdrawn their shining;

Douay-Rheims Bible
At their presence the earth hath trembled, the heavens are moved: the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining.

Revised Standard Version
The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

Young's Literal Translation
At their face trembled hath the earth, Shaken have the heavens, Sun and moon have been black, And stars have gathered up their shining.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The earth shal quake before him, yee the heauens shalbe moued: the Sonne & Moone shal be darckened, and the starres shal withdrawe their shyne.

Contextual Overview

¹Blow the trumpet in Zion [warning of impending judgment], Sound an alarm on My holy mountain [Zion]! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble and shudder in fear, For the [judgment] day of the LORD is coming; It is close at hand, ²A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and of thick [dark] mist, Like the dawn spread over the mountains; There is a [pagan, hostile] people numerous and mighty, The like of which has never been before Nor will be again afterward Even for years of many generations. ³Before them a fire devours, And behind them a flame burns; Before them the land is like the Garden of Eden, But behind them a desolate wilderness; And nothing at all escapes them. ⁴Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, And they run like war horses. ⁵Like the noise of chariots They leap on the tops of the mountains, Like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, Like a mighty people set in battle formation. ⁶Before them the people are in anguish; All faces become pale [with terror]. ⁷They run like warriors; They climb the wall like soldiers. They each march [straight ahead] in line, And they do not deviate from their paths. ⁸They do not crowd each other; Each one marches in his path. When they burst through the defenses (weapons), They do not break ranks. ⁹They rush over the city, They run on the wall; They climb up into the houses, They enter at the windows like a thief. ¹⁰The earth quakes before them, The heavens tremble, The sun and the moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

earth: Psalms 18:7, Psalms 114:7, Nahum 1:5, Matthew 27:51, Revelation 6:12, Revelation 20:11

the sun: Joel 2:2, Joel 2:31, Joel 3:15, Isaiah 13:10, Isaiah 34:4, Jeremiah 4:23, Ezekiel 32:7, Amos 5:8, Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:24, Mark 13:25, Luke 21:25, Luke 21:26, Acts 2:20, Revelation 8:12

Reciprocal: Genesis 1:14 - and let Joshua 10:13 - So the sun Job 9:6 - the pillars Isaiah 5:30 - if one look Jeremiah 51:29 - the land Joel 3:16 - and the heavens Amos 5:18 - the day of the Lord is Revelation 9:2 - and the sun

Cross-References

Psalms 46:4
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling places of the Most High.

Revelation 22:1
Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Christ),

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The earth shall quake before them,.... The inhabitants of it, because of the desolating judgments they bring with them, and those enemies that are signified by them:

the heavens shall tremble; being obscured by them:

the sun and moon shall be dark; the locusts sometimes come in such large numbers as to intercept the rays of the sun. Pliny t says they sometimes darken it; and though some thought they did not fly in the night, because of the cold; this he observes is owing to their ignorance, not considering that they pass over wide seas to distant countries; and this will account for it how the moon also may be darkened by them, and the stars, as follows:

and the stars shall withdraw their shining; though all this may be understood in a figurative sense of the great consternation that all sorts of persons should be in at such calamities coming upon the land, either by locusts, or by enemies; as the king, queen, nobles, and the common people of the land, signified by sun, moon, and stars, heaven and earth.

t Ibid. (Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 29.)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The earth shall quake before them - “Not,” says Jerome, “as though locusts or enemies had power to move the heavens or to shake the earth; but because, to those under trouble, for their exceeding terror, the heaven seems to fall and the earth to reel. But indeed, for the multitude of the locusts which cover the heavens, sun and moon shall be turned into darkness, and the stars shall withdraw their shining, while the cloud of locusts interrupts the light, and allows it not to reach the earth.” Yet the mention of moon and stars rather suggests that something more is meant than the locusts, who, not flying by night except when they cross the sea, do not obscure either. Rather, as the next verse speaks of God’s immediate, sensible, presence, this verse seems to pass from the image of the locusts to the full reality, and to say that heaven and earth should shake at the judgments of God, before He appeareth. Our Lord gives the same description of the forerunners of the Day of Judgment; “there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring, people’s hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken” Luke 21:25-26.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 10. The earth shall quake - the heavens shall tremble — Poetical expressions, to point out universal consternation and distress. The earth quaked to see itself deprived of its verdure; the heavens trembled to find themselves deprived of their light.

The sun and the moon shall be dark — Bochart relates that "their multitude is sometimes so immense as to obscure the heavens for the space of twelve miles!" - Ibid. p. 479.