Joel 2:21

THE MESSAGE

Fear not, Earth! Be glad and celebrate! God has done great things. Fear not, wild animals! The fields and meadows are greening up. The trees are bearing fruit again: a bumper crop of fig trees and vines! Children of Zion, celebrate! Be glad in your God . He's giving you a teacher to train you how to live right— Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words to refresh and nourish your soul, just as he used to do. And plenty of food for your body—silos full of grain, casks of wine and barrels of olive oil.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Don’t be afraid, land;rejoice and be glad,for the Lord has done astonishing things.

Hebrew Names Version
Land, don't be afraid. Be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things.

King James Version
Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things.

English Standard Version
"Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things!

New American Standard Bible
Do not fear, land; shout for joy and rejoice, For the LORD has done great things.

New Century Version
Land, don't be afraid; be happy and full of joy, because the Lord has done a wonderful thing.

Amplified Bible
Do not fear, O land; be glad and rejoice, For the LORD has done great things!

Geneva Bible (1587)
Feare not, O land, but be glad, and reioyce: for the Lord wil do great things.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad, For the LORD has done great things.

Legacy Standard Bible
Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad,For Yahweh has done great things.

Berean Standard Bible
Do not be afraid, O land; rejoice and be glad, for the LORD has done great things.

Contemporary English Version
and does great things. So tell the soil to celebrate

Complete Jewish Bible
Don't fear, O soil; be glad! rejoice! for Adonai has done great things.

Darby Translation
—Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for Jehovah doeth great things.

Easy-to-Read Version
Land, don't be afraid. Be happy and full of joy. The Lord will do great things.

George Lamsa Translation
Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice; for the LORD has exalted himself to do wonderful things.

Good News Translation
"Fields, don't be afraid, but be joyful and glad because of all the Lord has done for you.

Lexham English Bible
Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad, because Yahweh has done great things.

Literal Translation
Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice, for Jehovah is doing great things.

American Standard Version
Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice; for Jehovah hath done great things.

Bible in Basic English
Have no fear, O land; be glad with great joy; for the Lord has done great things.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice; for the LORD hath done great things.

King James Version (1611)
Feare not, O land, be glad and reioyce: for the Lord will doe great things.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Feare not O thou lande, be glad and reioyce: for the Lorde wyll do great thinges.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Be of good courage, O land; rejoice and be glad: for the Lord has done great things.

English Revised Version
Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice; for the LORD hath done great things.

World English Bible
Land, don't be afraid. Be glad and rejoice, for Yahweh has done great things.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Erthe, nyle thou drede, make thou ful out ioye, and be glad; for the Lord magnefiede that he schulde do.

Update Bible Version
Don't be afraid, O land, be glad and rejoice; for Yahweh has done great things.

Webster's Bible Translation
Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.

New English Translation
Do not fear, my land! Rejoice and be glad, because the Lord has accomplished great things!

New King James Version
Fear not, O land; Be glad and rejoice, For the LORD has done marvelous things!

New Living Translation
Don't be afraid, O land. Be glad now and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things.

New Life Bible
Do not be afraid, O land. Have joy and be glad, for the Lord has done great things.

New Revised Standard
Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things!

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Be not thou afraid, O soil, - exult and rejoice, because Yahweh, hath shown himself great, in doing.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Fear not, O land, be glad, and rejoice: for the Lord hath done great things.

Revised Standard Version
"Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things!

Young's Literal Translation
Do not fear, O land! joy and rejoice, For Jehovah hath exerted Himself to work.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Feare not (o londe) but be glad and reioyse, for the LORDE wil do greate thinges.

Contextual Overview

¹⁸At that, God went into action to get his land back. He took pity on his people. God answered and spoke to his people, "Look, listen—I'm sending a gift: Grain and wine and olive oil. The fast is over—eat your fill! I won't expose you any longer to contempt among the pagans. I'll head off the final enemy coming out of the north and dump them in a wasteland. Half of them will end up in the Dead Sea, the other half in the Mediterranean. There they'll rot, a stench to high heaven. The bigger the enemy, the stronger the stench!" ²¹Fear not, Earth! Be glad and celebrate! God has done great things. Fear not, wild animals! The fields and meadows are greening up. The trees are bearing fruit again: a bumper crop of fig trees and vines! Children of Zion, celebrate! Be glad in your God . He's giving you a teacher to train you how to live right— Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words to refresh and nourish your soul, just as he used to do. And plenty of food for your body—silos full of grain, casks of wine and barrels of olive oil. ²⁵"I'll make up for the years of the locust, the great locust devastation— Locusts savage, locusts deadly, fierce locusts, locusts of doom, That great locust invasion I sent your way. You'll eat your fill of good food. You'll be full of praises to your God , The God who has set you back on your heels in wonder. Never again will my people be despised. You'll know without question that I'm in the thick of life with Israel, That I'm your God , yes, your God , the one and only real God. Never again will my people be despised.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Fear: Genesis 15:1, Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 54:4, Jeremiah 30:9, Jeremiah 30:10, Zephaniah 3:16, Zephaniah 3:17, Zechariah 8:15

be glad: Psalms 65:12, Psalms 65:13, Psalms 96:11, Psalms 96:12, Psalms 98:8, Isaiah 35:1, Isaiah 44:23, Isaiah 55:12, Hosea 2:21

for: Joel 2:20, Deuteronomy 4:32, 1 Samuel 12:16, 1 Samuel 12:24, Psalms 71:19, Psalms 126:1-3, Jeremiah 33:3

Reciprocal: Psalms 65:11 - thy paths Isaiah 30:23 - shall he Joel 2:26 - that Hebrews 6:7 - the earth

Cross-References

1 Samuel 26:12
David took the spear and water jug that were right beside Saul's head, and they slipped away. Not a soul saw. Not a soul knew. No one woke up! They all slept through the whole thing. A blanket of deep sleep from God had fallen on them.

Job 33:15
"In a dream, for instance, a vision at night, when men and women are deep in sleep, fast asleep in their beds— God opens their ears and impresses them with warnings To turn them back from something bad they're planning, from some reckless choice, And keep them from an early grave, from the river of no return.

Proverbs 19:15
Life collapses on loafers; lazybones go hungry.

Daniel 8:18
A Vision of a Ram and a Billy Goat "In King Belshazzar's third year as king, another vision came to me, Daniel. This was now the second vision. "In the vision, I saw myself in Susa, the capital city of the province Elam, standing at the Ulai Canal. Looking around, I was surprised to see a ram also standing at the gate. The ram had two huge horns, one bigger than the other, but the bigger horn was the last to appear. I watched as the ram charged: first west, then north, then south. No beast could stand up to him. He did just as he pleased, strutting as if he were king of the beasts. "While I was watching this, wondering what it all meant, I saw a billy goat with an immense horn in the middle of its forehead come up out of the west and fly across the whole country, not once touching the ground. The billy goat approached the double-horned ram that I had earlier seen standing at the gate and, enraged, charged it viciously. I watched as, mad with rage, it charged the ram and hit it so hard that it broke off its two horns. The ram didn't stand a chance against it. The billy goat knocked the ram to the ground and stomped all over it. Nothing could have saved the ram from the goat. "Then the billy goat swelled to an enormous size. At the height of its power its immense horn broke off and four other big horns sprouted in its place, pointing to the four points of the compass. And then from one of these big horns another horn sprouted. It started small, but then grew to an enormous size, facing south and east—toward lovely Palestine. The horn grew tall, reaching to the stars, the heavenly army, and threw some of the stars to the earth and stomped on them. It even dared to challenge the power of God, Prince of the Celestial Army! And then it threw out daily worship and desecrated the Sanctuary. As judgment against their sin, the holy people of God got the same treatment as the daily worship. The horn cast God's Truth aside. High-handed, it took over everything and everyone. "Then I overheard two holy angels talking. One asked, ‘How long is what we see here going to last—the abolishing of daily worship, this devastating judgment against sin, the kicking around of God's holy people and the Sanctuary?' "The other answered, ‘Over the course of 2,300 sacrifices, evening and morning. Then the Sanctuary will be set right again.' "While I, Daniel, was trying to make sense of what I was seeing, suddenly there was a humanlike figure standing before me. "Then I heard a man's voice from over by the Ulai Canal calling out, ‘Gabriel, tell this man what is going on. Explain the vision to him.' He came up to me, but when he got close I became terrified and fell facedown on the ground. "He said, ‘Understand that this vision has to do with the time of the end.' As soon as he spoke, I fainted, my face in the dirt. But he picked me up and put me on my feet.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Fear not, O land,.... O land of Israel, as the Targum, and the inhabitants of it; neither of the locusts, who had so terrified them, and had done so much mischief, and threatened more; nor of their enemies, the Assyrians or Chaldeans, and their powerful armies, or any other; but, on the contrary,

be glad, and rejoice; at the removal of the locusts, and at the destruction of their enemies:

for the Lord will do great things; good things, in opposition to the evil things done by the locusts, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech observe; or by the destroying army of the king of Assyria, by delivering the Jews out of the Babylonish captivity; and in the times of the Maccabees, and especially in the times of Christ, which are quickly prophesied of in this chapter; and which prophecies some interpreters begin here, it not being unusual for the prophets to pass directly from things temporal to things spiritual, and especially to the great deliverance and salvation by Christ, and also by temporal blessings to design spiritual ones.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Fear not, O land - Before, they were bidden to tremble Joel 2:1, now they are bidden, “fear not;” before, “to turn in weeping, fasting and mourning;” now, “to bound for joy and rejoice;” before, “the land mourned;” now, “the land is bidden to rejoice.” The enemy had “done great things;” now the cause of joy is that God had “done great things;” the Almightiness of God overwhelming and sweeping over the might put forth to destroy. It is better rendered, “the Lord hath done great things.” If Joel includes herein God’s great doings yet to come, he speaks of them as, in the purpose of God, already in being; or he may, in this verse, presuppose that this new order of God’s mercies has begun, in the destruction of the Pagan foe.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 21. Fear not - for the Lord will do great things. — The words are repeated from the preceding verse; Jehovah will do great things in driving them away, and supernaturally restoring the land to fertility.