Joel 2:1
“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →A trumpet blast warns Zion that the day of the LORD is near, calling every inhabitant to tremble.
What Does Joel 2:1 Mean?
The chapter opens with an urgent alarm. The trumpet, the shophar, was sounded to warn a city of approaching danger. Here it is blown in Zion, on God's holy mountain, to announce that the day of the LORD is near. Every inhabitant is called to tremble. What was glimpsed in the locust plague now looms as something vast and imminent.
To tremble is the right response when God draws near in judgment. Joel is not trying to frighten the people needlessly but to wake them in time. A warning sounded early is an act of love, for it grants opportunity to prepare and repent before the day arrives. The trumpet that signals dread will, by the end of the chapter, give way to a call for that same instrument to summon the people to prayer. God's alarms are always aimed at our rescue, urging us to seek refuge in Him while there is still time.
In the Original Language
The shophar (שׁוֹפָר, 'trumpet') was a ram's horn blown to warn of danger or to summon Israel to sacred assembly.