Joel 2:11

Green's Literal Translation

And Jehovah shall give His voice before His army, for His camp is very great. For he who does His Word is strong. For the day of Jehovah is very great and terrifying, and who can endure it?

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord calls loudly to his army. His camp is very large. The army obeys his commands. His army is very powerful. The Lord 's special day is a great and terrible day. No one can stop it.

New American Standard Bible
The LORD utters His voice before His army; His camp is indeed very great, For mighty is one who carries out His word. The day of the LORD is indeed great and very awesome, And who can endure it?

New Century Version
The Lord shouts out orders to his army. His army is very large! Those who obey him are very strong! The Lord 's day of judging is an overwhelming and terrible day. No one can stand up against it!

New English Translation
The voice of the Lord thunders as he leads his army. Indeed, his warriors are innumerable; Surely his command is carried out! Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome and very terrifying—who can survive it?

Update Bible Version
And Yahweh utters his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executes his word; for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome; and who can abide it?

Webster's Bible Translation
And the LORD will utter his voice before his army: for his camp [is] very great: for [he is] strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD [is] great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Amplified Bible
The LORD utters His voice before His army, For His camp is very great, Because strong and powerful is he who [obediently] carries out His word. For the day of the LORD is indeed great and very terrible [causing dread]; Who can endure it?

English Standard Version
The Lord utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it?

World English Bible
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?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the Lord yaf his vois bifor the face of his oost, for hise oostis ben ful manye; for tho ben stronge, and doen the word of hym. For the dai of the Lord is greet, and ful ferdful, and who schal suffre it?

English Revised Version
And the LORD uttereth his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Berean Standard Bible
The LORD raises His voice in the presence of His army. Indeed, His camp is very large, for mighty are those who obey His command. For the Day of the LORD is great and very dreadful. Who can endure it?

Contemporary English Version
The Lord God leads this army of countless troops, and they obey his commands. The day of his judgment is so terrible that no one can stand it.

American Standard Version
And Jehovah uttereth his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his word; for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Bible in Basic English
And the Lord is thundering before his forces; for very great is his army; for he is strong who gives effect to his word: for the day of the Lord is great and greatly to be feared, and who has strength against it?

Complete Jewish Bible
Adonai shouts orders to his forces — his army is immense, mighty, and it does what he says. For great is the Day of Adonai , fearsome, terrifying! Who can endure it?

Darby Translation
And Jehovah uttereth his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for strong is he that executeth his word: for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can bear it?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the LORD uttereth His voice before His army; for His camp is very great, for he is mighty that executeth His word; for great is the day of the LORD and very terrible; and who can abide it?

King James Version (1611)
And the Lord shall vtter his voyce before his armie, for his campe is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide it?

New Living Translation
The Lord is at the head of the column. He leads them with a shout. This is his mighty army, and they follow his orders. The day of the Lord is an awesome, terrible thing. Who can possibly survive?

New Life Bible
The Lord thunders in front of His army. His army has too many to number. Those who obey His Word are powerful. The day of the Lord is very great and fills people with fear and wonder. Who can live through it?

New Revised Standard
The Lord utters his voice at the head of his army; how vast is his host! Numberless are those who obey his command. Truly the day of the Lord is great; terrible indeed—who can endure it?

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the Lord shal vtter his voyce before his hoste: for his hoste is very great: for he is strog that doeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide it?

George Lamsa Translation
The LORD has shouted before his army; for his host is very great; mighty is the work executed by his word; for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; who can endure it?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, Yahweh, hath uttered his voice, before his host, for great indeed is his camp, for bold is he who executeth his word, - for great is the day of Yahweh, and awful exceedingly, Who then shall endure it?

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the Lord hath uttered his voice before the face of his army: for his armies are exceedingly great, for they are strong, and execute his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible: and who can stand it?

Revised Standard Version
The LORD utters his voice before his army, for his host is exceedingly great; he that executes his word is powerful. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; who can endure it?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the Lorde shall geue his voyce before his hoast, for his campe is exceeding great, for he is mightie that executeth his commaundement: for the day of the Lorde is great and very terrible, and who can abide it?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the Lord shall utter his voice before his host: for his camp is very great: for the execution of his words is mighty: for the day of the Lord is great, very glorious, and who shall be able to resist it?

Good News Translation
The Lord thunders commands to his army. The troops that obey him are many and mighty. How terrible is the day of the Lord ! Who will survive it?

Christian Standard Bible®
The Lord makes his voice heardin the presence of his army.His camp is very large;those who carry out his command are powerful.Indeed, the day of the Lord is terrible and dreadful—who can endure it?

Hebrew Names Version
The LORD thunders his voice before his army; For his forces are very great; For he is strong who obeys his command; For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome, And who can endure it?

King James Version
And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Lexham English Bible
And Yahweh utters his voice before his army, because his encampment is very large; strong is the one who carries out his decree, for great is the day of Yahweh and exceedingly fearful. Who can endure it?

Young's Literal Translation
And Jehovah hath given forth His voice before His force, For very great [is] His camp, For mighty [is] the doer of His word, For great [is] the day of Jehovah -- very fearful, And who doth bear it?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The LORDE shal shewe his voyce before his hoost, for his hoost is greate, stronge & mightie to fulfill his commaundement. This is yt greate and maruelous fearfull daye of the LORDE: And who is able to abyde it?

New King James Version
The LORD gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The LORD utters His voice before His army; Surely His camp is very great, For strong is he who carries out His word. The day of the LORD is indeed great and very awesome, And who can endure it?

Legacy Standard Bible
But Yahweh gives forth His voice before His military force;Surely His camp is very numerous,For mighty is he who does His word.The day of Yahweh is indeed great and very awesome,And who can endure it?

Contextual Overview

¹ Blow a ram's horn in Zion, and shout an alarm in My holy mountain. Let all those living in the land tremble. For the day of Jehovah approaches; it is near, ² a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the dawn spread out on the mountains, a great and a strong people. There has never been the like, nor shall there ever be again to the years of many generations; ³ a fire devours before it, and a flame burns behind it. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them is a desolate wilderness; yea, also there is no escape to them. ⁴ Their appearance is like horses; and as horsemen, so they run. ⁵ They shall leap like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains, like the noise of flames of fire that devour the chaff, as a strong people set in order for battle. ⁶ Before their face, the people shall be pained; all faces collect heat. ⁷ They shall run as mighty ones; they shall go up the wall as men of war. And they each go on his way, and they do not change their paths. ⁸ And each does not press his brother; they each go in his paths. And if they fall behind their weapon, they shall not be cut off. ⁹ They shall rush on the city; they shall run on the wall; they shall climb up on the houses; they shall enter in by the windows, like a thief. ¹⁰ 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.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

utter: Joel 3:16, 2 Samuel 22:14, 2 Samuel 22:15, Psalms 46:6, Isaiah 7:18, Isaiah 13:4, Isaiah 42:13, Jeremiah 25:30, Amos 1:2

his army: Joel 2:25

he is: Jeremiah 50:34, Revelation 18:8

the day: Jeremiah 30:7, Amos 5:18, Amos 5:20, Zephaniah 1:15

who: Numbers 24:23, Nahum 1:6, Malachi 3:2, Revelation 6:17

Reciprocal: Exodus 13:9 - strong hand Psalms 103:20 - that excel in strength Isaiah 13:6 - for the day Jeremiah 1:16 - And I Jeremiah 10:10 - the nations Jeremiah 37:10 - yet Jonah 1:6 - if Micah 6:9 - hear Zephaniah 1:7 - for the day Zephaniah 1:14 - great Matthew 22:7 - his

Cross-References

Genesis 10:7
And the sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha. And Raamah's sons were Sheba and Dedan.

Genesis 10:29
and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab. These all were the sons of Joktan.

Genesis 25:18
And they lived from Havilah to Shur, which is facing Egypt as you come toward Assyria; he settled facing all his brothers.

1 Samuel 15:7
And Saul struck Amalek from Havilah, as you go to Shur, which is before Egypt.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army,.... Either the army of the locusts, whom Pliny u calls "pestis deorum", "the plague of the gods"; and the Arabians frequently style them the army of God. It is a tradition of theirs that locusts fell into the hands of Mahomet, with this inscription on their backs and wings,

"we are the army of the most high God;''

and because they were, for that reason Mahomet made a law that none should kill them; :-. These creatures are certainly at his beck and command; he can "command the locust to devour the land", 2 Chronicles 7:13; which may be meant by his uttering his voice here; though Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it of the Lord's giving notice of this judgment by his prophets before it fame: or this may design the army of the Assyrians or Chaldeans, of which the locusts were all emblem, and which were of the Lord's mustering together, and was at his command; and who is here represented as a General at the head of his army, making a speech to them to animate and encourage them to the battle, and to give them the word of command when to begin the onset:

for his camp [is] very great; or numerous, as both the locusts and Chaldeans were:

for [he is] strong that executeth his word; or "strong is it"; namely, the camp and army of the locusts; which, though feeble in themselves, separately considered; yet being in such large bodies, and the Lord at the head of them, and strengthened by him, were able to fulfil his word; which he can make the least and meanest of his creatures do: or the Assyrian or Chaldean army, which was both numerous and mighty: which the Targum may refer unto, paraphrasing the words,

"for strong are the executors of his word:''

for the day of the Lord [is] great and very terrible, and who can abide it? the day appointed by the Lord to take vengeance on the Jews for sin; and this, being the day of his wrath, is very dreadful and intolerable; so any season may be called, in which God remarkably pours down his wrath on men of their sins; see Revelation 6:17. Such was the time of Jerusalem's destruction, both by the Chaldeans and Romans.

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

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the Lord shall utter His voice - The prophet had described at length the coming of God’s judgments, as a mighty army. But lest amid the judgments, people should, (as they often do) forget the Judge, he represents God, as commanding this His army, gathering, ordering, marshalling, directing them, giving them the word, when and upon whom they should pour themselves. Their presence was a token of His. They should neither anticipate that command, nor linger. But as an army awaits the command to move, and then, the word being given, rolls on instantly, so God’s judgments await the precise moment of His Will, and then fall. “The voice of the Lord” is elsewhere used for the thunder; because in it He seems to speak in majesty and terror to the guilty soul. But here the voice refers, not to us, but to the army, which He is imaged as marshalling; as Isaiah, referring perhaps to this place, says “The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle” Isaiah 13:4.

God had spoken, and His people had not obeyed; now He speaks not to them anymore, but to their enemies. He calls the Medes and Persians, “My sanctified ones, My mighty ones” Isaiah 13:3, when they were to exercise His judgments on Babylon; and our Lord calls the Romans His armies. “He sent forth His armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city” Matthew 22:7. Then follow as threefold ground of terror. “For His camp is very great.” All the instruments wherewith God punishes sin, are pictured as His one camp, each going, as He commands, “Who bringeth forth the host of heaven by number: He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth” Isaiah 40:26. For he is “strong, that executeth His word,” or, “for” it (His camp) is “strong, executing His word.” Weak though His instruments be in themselves, they are mighty when they do His commands, for He empowers them, as Paul saith, “I can do all things through Christ instrengthening me” Philippians 4:13. “For the Day of the Lord is great,” great, on account of the great things done in it. As those are called evil days, “an evil time,” in which evil comes; as it is called “an acceptable time;” in which we may be accepted; so the Day of God’s judgment is “great and very terrible,” on account of the great and terrible acts of His justice done in it. who can abide it? The answer is implied in the question. “No one, unless God enable him.”

This is the close of the threatened woe. The close, so much beyond any passing scourge of any created destroyer, locusts or armies, suggests the more what has been said already, that the prophet is speaking of the whole aggregate of God’s judgments unto the Day of Judgment.

: “The Lord saith, that He will send an Angel with the sound of a trumpet, and the Apostle declares that the resurrection of the dead shall take place amid the sound of a trumpet. In the Revelation of John too, we read that the seven Angels received seven trumpets, and as they sounded in order, that was done which Scripture describes. The priests and teachers accordingly are here bidden to lift up their voice like a trumpet in Zion, that is, the Church, that so all the inhabitants of the earth may be troubled or confounded, and this confusion may draw them to Salvation. “By the Day of the Lord,” understand the Day of judgment, or the day when each departeth out of the body. For what will be to all in the Day of judgment, this is fulfilled in each in the day of death. It is a “day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness,” because everything will be full of punishment and torment.

The great and strong people of the angels will come, to render to each according to his works; and as the rising morn first seizes the mountains, so judgment shall begin with the great and mighty, so that “mighty men shall be mightily tormented” (Wisd. 6:6). “There hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it.” For all evils, contained in ancient histories and which have happened to people, by inundation of the sea, or overflow of rivers, or by pestilence, disease, famines wild beasts, ravages of enemies, cannot be compared to the Day of judgment. “A fire devoureth, or consumeth before” this people, to consume in us “hay, wood, stubble.” Whence it is said of God, “thy God is a consuming fire” Deuteronomy 4:24. And “after” him “a flame burneth,” so as to leave nothing unpunished. whomsoever this people toucheth not, nor findeth in him what is to be burned, shall be likened to the garden of God, and the paradise of pleasure, i. e., of Eden. If it burn any, it will reduce this (as it were) wilderness to dust and ashes, nor can any escape its fury.

For they shall run to and fro to torture those over whom they shall receive power, like horsemen flying hither and thither. Their sound shall be terrible, as “chariots” hurrying along level places, and upon the tops of the mountains they shall leap,” longing to torment all who are lofty and set on high in the Church. And since “before them there is a devouring fire,” they will destroy everything, “as the fire devoureth the stubble.” They shall come to punish, “as a strong people in battle array.” Such will be the fear, of all, such the conscience of sinners, that none shall shine or have any brightness of joy, but his face shall be turned into darkness. They shall not turn aside, in fulfilling the office enjoined them, but each shall carry on the punishments on sinners entrusted to him. At the presence of that people, “the earth shall quake and the heavens tremble. For heaven and earth shall pass away, but the word of the Lord shall endure forever.” The sun and moon also shall not endure to see the punishments of the miserable, and shall remove and, for bright light, shall be shrouded in terrible darkness. “The stars also shall withdraw their shining,” in that the holy also shall not without fear behold the presence of the Lord. Amid all this, “The Lord shall utter His voice” before His army. For as the Babylonians, in punishing Jerusalem, are called the army of God, so the evil angels (of whom it is written, “He cast upon them the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them” Psalms 78:49) are called the army of God and His camp, in that they do the Will of God.”

The Day of the Lord, is great and terrible - Of which it is written, elsewhere, “to what end do ye desire the Day of the Lord? it is darkness and not light and very terrible” (from Amos 5:18), and few or none can abide it, but will furnish some ground of severity against himself.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 11. The Lord shall utter his voice — Such a mighty force seems as if summoned by the Almighty, and the noise they make in coming announces their approach, while yet afar off.