Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Joel 1:15 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 15. 15Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse names the present crisis as an approaching day of the LORD and destruction from the Almighty.
Read It With
- Joel 1:13–20
Read Joel 1:13–20 together. This verse names the present crisis as an approaching day of the LORD and destruction from the Almighty. Read Joel 1:13–20 as one complete prophetic movement: Priests must lead the whole land in embodied lament and appeal to the LORD because present deprivation anticipates the terrible Day; Joel finally cries out as crops, worship, cattle, flocks, wild animals, watercourses, and pastures fail.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The unit turns observation into corporate prayer and connects the experienced calamity with a larger divine reckoning, while keeping the LORD—not human control—the object of appeal. Within that movement, this verse names the present crisis as an approaching day of the LORD and destruction from the Almighty.
Read Joel 1:13–20 together
Why these verses belong together: Priestly lament, assembly, day-of-the-LORD alarm, food collapse, animal suffering, and Joel's prayer form one escalating appeal.
Verse 13. 13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
Verse 14. 14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
Verse 15. 15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
Verse 16. 16 Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
Verse 17. 17 The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
Verse 18. 18 How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
Verse 19. 19 O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
Verse 20. 20 The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
Follow the Context
- Priests put on sackcloth, lament through the night, and face the loss of offerings.
- They consecrate a fast, gather elders and all inhabitants, and cry to the LORD.
- The lament names the approaching Day as destruction from the Almighty.
- Food, joy, seed, storehouses, and pasture fail.
- Domestic animals groan and wander; Joel cries to the LORD.
- Wild animals also cry because water and pasture are gone.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“the day of the LORD is at hand”
In plain language: The LORD's day is described as near.
Joel names the community's crisis as divine reckoning before later developing the motif.
Why it matters: Nearness calls for response but supplies no modern date.
How certain? very strongWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Joel 1:15 does not supply a date for the day of the LORD or authorize attaching every disaster to a prophetic countdown.
What Remains True
Joel interprets the near disaster through the day of the LORD, a terrifying divine reckoning that overturns complacency.
How It Can Shape Life
- Use judgment language for repentance and accountability, never to set dates, monetize fear, or identify a current catastrophe as certain fulfillment.
Teach It Back
Explain Joel 1:15's precise role in Joel 1:13–20. Include the scene's movement, the surrounding verses, any material uncertainty, and one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Joel 1:13–20 — Priests Gather the Land, and the Prophet Cries with CreationSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The day of the LORD here is near in relation to Joel's crisis, while its relation to later or final judgment is developed rather than dated.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Joel 1:13–20, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Joel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew forms, morphology, repeated roots, clause relationships, names, and the base wording behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Joel.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 1:13–20
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Joel with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Material lexical, grammatical, textual, numbering, historical, Day-of-the-LORD, Spirit, judgment, and restoration notes within the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible Joel PDF, printed pp. 1697–1698, translation and translator notes on 1:13–20
Open source ↗