Chapter Two

1–11. The locusts and drought as heralds of the coming Day of the Lord. 12–17. Exhortation of the people to repentance and prayer. 18–27. Announcement of the cessation of calamity by the sending of an abundant harvest. 28–32. Prophecy of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

Joel 2:1. Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near— In Joel 2:1-11 the prophet examines the calamity that struck the country in relation to the forthcoming greater calamity—the day of the judgment of the Lord. The speech of the prophet at this develops so that the features of the present and future merge in him. “Blow the trumpet.” The prophet addresses the priests (Num 10:8). By the name sohophaz (trumpet) among the Hebrew, according to the testimony of blessed Jerome, was called a metal trumpet, having the form of a horn and emitting strong sounds. It was used for signals during battle (Judg 7:8; Jer 4:19-21; Zeph 1:16), at a sudden enemy attack (Judg 3:27; Jer 4:5), at the announcement of the coming of holidays (Num 10:10; 2 Samuel 6 and others). The prophet invites to announce by the sound of a trumpet the coming soon of the Day of the Lord. “On Zion”: the name Zion in the Bible is used both in the sense of the special designation of a certain hill, and denotes all Jerusalem. In Joel 2:1 it is used in the latter sense. The speech of the prophet at this has a figurative character. Therefore, from the command to gather the people by trumpet, one cannot conclude (Nowack) that the prophet has in mind a time when all the people lived near Zion and could really be gathered by the sound of a trumpet, that is, the postexilic period.

Joel 2:2. A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people comes; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them in ages to come. The prophet speaks of the invasion of locusts, but since in this calamity he sees a foreboding and a type of the impending terrible Day of the Lord, the features of that and this merge in the speech of the prophet, and the description of the invasion of locusts takes on in part a hyperbolical character (cf. “like has never been before”). “A day of clouds and thick darkness”: jom anon vaaraphel—the word araphel (in Exod 14:20; 2 Sam 22:10) means a storm cloud. It is better to understand it in this sense also in Joel 2:2. The words “like blackness spread upon the mountains” (Slav. “like morning spread upon the mountains”) in the Hebrew Masoretic text are referred to the preceding (“a day of clouds and thick darkness”). According to the opinion of many commentators, to the spreading of the morning dawn the prophet compares the coming of the Day of the Lord, wishing to express the idea of speed (quickness) of coming (Irenaeus, archbishop of Pskov) or else taking shahar (morning dawn) in the sense—dawn, harbinger of a bad day (Justi), pre-dawn darkness (Wünsche). In the latter case the expression of the prophet will have the form: a day of cloud and cloud like pre-dawn darkness covering the mountains. Better, however, following the LXX, to refer the passages under consideration to what follows “a great and powerful people” and so forth. “ Nation,” as in Joel 1:6, the prophet calls locusts and by comparison with the morning dawn gives the thought of the speed with which locusts spread throughout the country.

Joel 2:3. Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them. In Joel 2:3 some commentators (Dobronravov) find a description of two calamities that struck the country: drought and invasion of locusts: “before him,” that is, before the invasion of locusts; “behind him,” that is, after it; fire consuming and flame—images of drought. But the expressions of the prophet retain their full meaning if, according to the context, we will see in Joel 2:3 only a description of the invasion of locusts, which makes the impression of all-consuming flame. “Like the garden of Eden” (cf. Ezek 36:35): kegan—eden; the LXX translated the Hebrew gan with the word παρὰδεισος, and eden with the nomen appelativum τρυφι—sweetness; hence in Slav. “like the paradise of sweetness.”

Joel 2:4. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they charge. In Joel 2:4 locusts are compared in external appearance and speed of movement to a horse. In explanation of Joel 2:4 blessed Theodoret remarks: “if anyone carefully examines the head of a locust, he will find it very much like the head of a horse. When a locust flies, it is in no way inferior to horses in speed.” “They charge like warriors” in the LXX, like Rus. translation, the second half of the comparison is understood in the sense of a comparison of locusts with cavalry (Hebrew keparaschim, Greek ὡς ίππεῖς), but not simply charging, but pursuing an enemy; hence in Slav. “like cavalry so they will pursue.” Parallelism would be more consistent if paraschim were translated as “horses.”

Joel 2:5. They leap upon the tops of the mountains like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle. The prophet compares the invasion of locusts with the invasion of the country by an enemy army (cf. Rev 9:9). Eyewitnesses also compare the noise of flying locusts to the noise of a river or waterfall.

Joel 2:6. Before them peoples are in anguish, all faces grow pale. “All faces grow pale.” The Hebrew word for pale is kibzu parur. The meaning of the word parur is unclear. The LXX translated it with the word χὺτρα “pot,” and the verb kubzu they translated freely; hence πᾶς πρὸσωπον ὡς πρόσκαυμα χύτρας resulted, Slav. “like the burning of a pot.” Others (Dobronravov) understand parur (from paar) in the meaning decoration and the words of the prophet convey as: “all faces gather their decoration.” This understanding corresponds in the Rus. translation to “grow pale.”

Joel 2:7. Like warriors they charge, like soldiers they scale the wall. They march each on his path, they do not swerve from their tracks. Joel 2:8. They do not jostle one another, each marches in his path; they burst through the weapons without breaking ranks. Joel 2:9. They rush upon the city, they run upon the walls; they climb up into the houses, they enter through the windows like a thief. The attack of locusts is compared to the siege of a well-arranged army of a city. The Hebrew text Joel 2:8 is disputed and admits of different translations. Instead of the words “each marches in his path” in Slav. “encumbered with their weapons” (ἐν τοῖς ὀπλοις). The words “and they burst through the weapons” in Hebrew correspond to; uvead hasehschelah ippolu. The preposition vead (Rus. upon) is accepted in different meanings (Gesenius—near, Ewald—around, Wünsche—behind, Meyer—through, between); the word schelah (Rus. weapons), from shalah, to send, may mean any weapon—sword, spears, bows, arrows (cf. 2 Chr 32:5; Nehem 4:13). Therefore the entire expression is rendered differently: καὶ ἐν βέλεσιν αὐτῶν πεσοῦνται (LXX, Slav. “and in their arrows they will fall”; “they hurl themselves through weapons” Dobronravov, Nowack, Marti Hoonacker); “and behind weapons fall arrows” (Holtzausen). The prophet apparently wishes to express the idea that locusts cannot be stopped by any means, even if an army were sent against them.

Joel 2:10. Before them the earth quakes, the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. Blessed Jerome explains the words of the prophet thus: “The prophet says that heaven shakes and earth trembles not because locusts could produce this, but because those who suffer, because of great fear, believe that heaven is collapsing and the earth trembles.” Other commentators (Nowack) believe that in Joel 2:10 the prophet speaks of a storm that preceded the appearance of locusts. In view of the general character of prophetic speech, in which in the description of locust invasion are introduced also features of the impending fearful Day of the Lord, it is possible that Joel 2:10 refers to the latter (Dobronravov). (Cf. Isa 13:10; Nah 1:5 and so forth. Ezek 32:7; Matt 24:29).

Joel 2:11. The Lord utters his voice before his army; how vast is his host! Mighty are those who obey his word. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it? A figurative depiction of the day of calamity: at the head of the army that is devastating the country, the Lord himself is represented, giving orders about the devastation (cf. Isa 13:2-5). Similarly, in the day of terrible judgment over the world, the Lord will appear at the head of the heavenly army, that is, with all his holy angels (Matt 24:30-31; Matt 25:31; cf. Ps 102:20; Dan 7:10). Instead of Rus. “Mighty are those who obey his word” in Slav. we read: “for the deeds of his word are strong”; apparently the LXX Hebrew azum oseh, strong do, read azum maasch, strong deed. Hebrew venora meod, “and very awesome” (the day). The LXX translated ἐπιφανης σφόδρα, Slav. “bright very,” since instead of nora they apparently read naro, from or to be bright.

Joel 2:12. Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. In Joel 2:12-17 the prophet turns to exhortation of the people; the prophet says that despite the nearness of the day of the wrath of the Lord, it can still be turned away by true repentance, expressed not in external rites alone, but chiefly in the contrition of the heart.

Joel 2:13. Rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. “And he relents over disaster,” in Slav. “repenting of evils.” Hebrew raah means both physical evil and moral evil; in Joel 2:13 it is used in the first sense. The whole expression has an anthropomorphic character. The change by the Lord of his plans and decisions does not contradict the immutability of God, because promises and threats are given by God on the condition of the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of his commandments by people.

Joel 2:14. Who knows whether he may not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? The prophet expresses hope in mercy, combined with a certain doubt, so that, according to the opinion of commentators, on the one hand not to bring the people to despair, and on the other not to give them reason for carelessness. Instead of the words “and leave a blessing behind him” in Slav. more accurately: “and will leave for himself (Hebrew acharaj) a blessing.” By blessing the prophet means the harvest of grain and fruits.

Joel 2:15. Blow the trumpet in Zion; declare a holy fast, call a solemn assembly. Cf. Joel 1:14.

Joel 2:16. Gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. “Invite the elders,” the LXX unsuccessfully ἐκλέξασθε πρεσβ. Slav. “choose elders”: the speech is about gathering all up to and including infants at the breast, not about the selection of representatives. Instead of the words “children and infants at the breast” (olalim vejonkej) in Slav. “infants sucking the breast.”

Joel 2:17. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep. Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ “Between the vestibule (ulam) and the altar”: in Slav. “between the steps (degrees) of the altar.” By the word ulam was designated a vestibule attached on the eastern side of the temple and leading into the sanctuary, twenty cubits long, twenty high and ten broad (1 Sam 6:3). In the following part of the temple, in the inner court of the priests (1 Sam 6:36; 2 Chr 4:9) stood the altar, toward which the priests should stand facing. “Do not make your heritage a mockery” and so forth. The speech is not about the enslavement of Israel by pagan nations, as defenders of the allegorical interpretation of the Book of Joel suppose, but in general about the distressed condition of the country, which could give occasion for the mockery of pagans.

Joel 2:18. Then the Lord became jealous for his land, and had pity on his people. Joel 2:19. The Lord answered his people, “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a mockery among the nations. According to the Rus. translation in Joel 2:18-19 the speech is about the future. But with such understanding the connection with what precedes is unclear. Therefore, in agreement with the guidance of ancient translations (LXX and Vulg.), it is better, together with the majority of commentators, to understand the verbs vajjomer, vajaan, vajjachmol, vojjekane not in the sense of the so-called perfectum propheticum, but in the sense of perf. historicum, that is, to translate not in future tense, as in Rus. text, but in the past (as in the LXX and in Slav. “became jealous,” “had pity,” “answered,” “said”; in Vulg. zealatus est, pepercit, respondit, dixit). In Joel 2:18-19 we have a historical note that the Lord had mercy on the Hebrew people. Since in Joel 2:15-17 the prophet gave hope of such mercy only on the condition of the people’s turning, the appointment of a fast and a solemn assembly, then, evidently, all this was fulfilled, although the prophet does not mention it. “The Lord answered his people and said:” the prophet probably wishes to express only the general idea that the Lord heard the prayer of the people and fulfilled their requests. Starting from the middle of Joel 2:19, a new speech of the prophet Joel begins, pronounced after the first. In this speech the prophet announces the cessation of the calamities that struck the country and the sending of an abundant harvest (Joel 2:19-27); then gives a promise of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:23-32) and, finally, depicts the judgment over all nations and its consequences (Joel 3).

Joel 2:20. I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive it into a parched and desolate land, its front into the eastern sea, and its rear into the western sea; and the stench of it will rise, and the foul smell of it will ascend. Surely he has done great things. In Joel 2:20 the speech is about deliverance from locusts. “And the one from the north”: properly in Hebrew veeth hazzephoni, and the northern one. Although the native land of locusts is the south, and namely the deserts of Arabia and northwestern Africa, however, because of change of winds, it could be carried to Palestine also from the north and could be named hazzephoni. Therefore there is no need to understand hazzephoni in a figurative sense—“bringing calamities” (Justi, Cook), in view of the fact that north was for Palestine a source of calamities, or dark (Maurer, Gesenius), that is, covering the rays of the sun and so forth. “And drive it into a parched and desolate land”: locusts usually die in deserts and seas. In Joel 2:20, perhaps the Arabian desert or the desert lying between Idumea and Judea is meant (Dobronravov). “Eastern sea” (Slav. “sea first”)—the Dead Sea, also called “Salt” (Gen 14:3; Num 34:12). “Western sea” or the Mediterranean Sea, called great (Num 34:6-7). “And the stench of it will rise”: according to the report of blessed Jerome, in his time the decay of locusts that died in the Dead and Mediterranean seas so poisoned the air that it caused plague in people and cattle. “Surely he has done great things”; Slav. “for he has magnified his deeds.” In the Bible irrational creatures are often represented as culpable (cf. Gen 9:5; Exod 21:28-32; Job 41:25; Job 39:7).

Joel 2:21. Do not fear, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things! Joel 2:22. Do not fear, you animals of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield. Joel 2:23. O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the late rain, as before. In view of deliverance from calamity the prophet invites to rejoice the land, the animals and the people, as earlier he invited them to mourn and weep. “O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God.” The prophet names only the inhabitants of Zion, that is, the people of Jerusalem, but certainly means not only them, but all who suffered and are now delivered from calamity. “For he has given the early rain (moreh) for your vindication” (lizedakah). Hebrew moreh (from jarah threw, watered and indicated) has two different meanings—rain and teacher. In the latter sense the word is understood in the Chaldean paraphrase and in the Vulgate, in which the given expression reads: quia dedit vobis doctorem justitae, because he gave you the teacher of righteousness. In the same sense many modern exegetes (Keil, Merx, Hoonacker) accept moreh. Meanwhile the words of the prophet are understood in the sense of a promise that the Lord will give the people a teacher and prophets (Knabenbauer), in particular in the person of the prophet Joel (Orelli) or that the Lord will send the teacher of Righteousness—the Messiah (Shedd, Hoonacker). But apparently, in the expression under consideration, it is better to understand the word moreh in the meaning rain. It is precisely in this meaning that the word is used in the same verse further; besides, the mention of the teacher of righteousness would not correspond to the context Joel 2:22-26, where the speech is about earthly blessings, not about spiritual blessings. As for the word lizedakah, the rendering of it in our text (“for your vindication”) can hardly be agreed with. Hebrew zedakah is used only in a moral sense (righteousness, justice) and in the expression under consideration can refer only to Jehovah. The prophet wishes to say that Jehovah will give rain according to (in view of) righteousness, that is, considering the Jews worthy of mercy, in view of their turning (Cook, Dobronravov), or gives rain as a sign of the righteousness of the Jews before God after repentance (Wellhausen, Nowack): The LXX Hebrew moreh lizedakah was rendered—βρώματα εὶς δικαιοσύνην, Slav. “gave you food in righteousness.” It is believed that the LXX instead of the cause (rain) wished to point directly to the consequence (fertility). “The early and the late rain”: the early rain—autumn rain, falling in the second half of October or the beginning of November; the late rain—spring rain, falling before the time of harvest in the end of March or the beginning of April.

Joel 2:25. I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you. The Lord promises to richly reward the Judeans for the time they suffered from locusts. “I will repay you for the years”: there is no need to think that the invasion of locusts struck the country for several years (Nowack); the prophet’s speech can be understood in a poetic sense, as an indication of the severity of the devastation of the country, which was so great that it seemed as if locusts had come for several years in succession (Hitzig, Dobronravov).

Joel 2:27. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame. The favor of the Lord toward the people will not be limited to the sending of earthly blessings only; with special power this favor will be manifested some day in the sending of spiritual blessings, in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh. Joel 2:27-32 in the Hebrew Bible constitutes a special chapter (Joel 3), so that our Joel 3 will be in the Hebrew Bible already Иоил.4.

Joel 2:28. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. “And it shall come to pass afterward” (acharej-chen), Slav. “and it shall be after these”: the Hebrew expression acharej-chen (after these), like similar ones bcacharith hajjamim, Slav. “at the end of the days, in the last days,” points to the distant future and serves among the prophets as a customary term for the designation of Messianic times (Isa 2:2; Mic 4:1). “I will pour out my Spirit,” from Hebrew (aschepoch roach) I will pour out my Spirit: the prophet borrows the image from the pouring out of rain, of which the speech was above (Joel 2:23); he wishes to express the idea that just as the pouring out of natural rain will be a source of enlivening nature, so the sending of the Holy Spirit will some day enliven all mankind (cf. Isa 32:15; Zechariah 12 and others). The LXX, apparently wishing to indicate that the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be poured out not in full measure, instead of the expression “I will pour out my Spirit” put: ἐκξεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεὺματὸς μου, “I will pour out from my Spirit.” “Upon all flesh,” al-kol basar. The word basar (flesh) in the Bible is used to denote all living creatures, both people and animals (Gen 6:13). One of the commentators (Credner) finds it possible to understand the word basar in such a broad sense (cf. Isa 11:6) also in the passage under consideration, attributing to the prophet Joel a promise of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit also upon animals. But the further words of the prophet (old men, young men and others) show that he uses the word basar in a narrow sense and speaks only of people. However, one cannot narrow down the promise of the prophet and believe, together with Hitzig, Wünsche, Merx and others, that he announces the pouring out of the Holy Spirit only upon the Jews: the words Joel 2:32—“and it shall be: every one who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”—testify that the prophet was free from particularism and expected the sending of grace gifts for all mankind, not for the Jews alone. But since immediately he announces his promise to the Hebrew people, he says: “your sons, your daughters.” The fruit of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit will be that all will be illumined by the Spirit of God, all will become prophets. “Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” The prophet foretells the fulfillment of what the lawgiver Moses once desired, when he said: “O that all in the Lord’s people were prophets, when the Lord would send his Spirit upon them!” (Num 11:29). The prophet names the forms in which revelation was communicated to men: dreams and visions (1 Sam 3:1, Zech 2:1-9; Dan 7:1, 8 and others). He does not wish to say that each age will have access to only one known form of revelation—old men dreams, youths—visions: his expression is only a device of poetic speech, and the thought of the prophet is that divine revelation will be received both in sleep and in visions.

Joel 2:29. Even upon the male and female slaves in those days I will pour out my Spirit. “Even (vegam) upon the male and female slaves”: the particle gam (also) strengthens the speech and indicates that something unusual is being announced (vegam—and even). Indeed, in Old Testament history, the gift of prophecy was not given to slaves. Therefore the LXX understood the words of the prophet in the sense that he speaks of slaves of Jehovah, that is, Jews, and supplemented them with the personal pronoun of the first person, translating: “upon my slaves, and upon my maidservants.”

Joel 2:30. And I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The prophet turns to the depiction of the terrible Day of the Lord or the day of judgment and indicates the signs of its coming. The immediate transition of the speech to another event does not indicate that the prophet considers both events to be about to happen simultaneously. Prophets often juxtapose two events not according to their chronological connection, but according to their inner, ideological closeness, because when two events are placed side by side, the significance of each becomes clearer (cf. Isa 40). “Blood and fire and columns of smoke.” Apparently, in these words are meant wars accompanied by bloodshed and the burning of cities and villages (cf. Matt 24:6-7; Mark 13:6-7; Luke 21:9-10).

Joel 2:31. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. The prophet does not speak of ordinary solar and lunar eclipses, because he indicates wondrous, unusual signs. There is no basis either to understand the words of the prophet in an allegorical sense, as an indication of the mental state of people before the coming of the Day of the Lord, when from the weight of suffering the heavenly luminaries would seem to them to be obscured (Theodore of Mopsuestia, Calvin, Hengstenberg). The prophet speaks precisely of terrible signs in nature.

Joel 2:32. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved”: the prophet speaks not of Israelites only, but of all nations. The Apostle Paul applies the words of Joel also to the gentiles, when he remarks that in the Church of Christ there is no distinction between Jew and gentile, because one Lord is for all, rich for all those calling upon him, for “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom 10:12-13). “For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape” (peleitah). The prophet means the spiritual Zion and Jerusalem, that is, the Kingdom of God (Heb 12:22). Hebrew pelejtah is better translated as—those saved, as in the LXX ἀνασωζ´ομενος. “As the Lord has said”: these words are understood either as the prophet’s confirmation of the truth of his prophecy (as the Lord said), or in the sense of an indication of a prophecy that existed before Joel about salvation on Zion. Under this latter is commonly understood (Keil, Cook, Nowack) the prophecy of Obadiah about salvation on Zion (Obad 1:17). “And among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls”: thus, those from those calling upon the Lord shall be saved whom the Lord himself calls. In the LXX the Hebrew ubasswidim (Rus. and among the survivors) was translated, as a result of a different reading, with the word εὑαγγελιζόμενοι; hence in Slav. “and those who are being proclaimed gospel.” Concerning the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy about the pouring out of the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh, the following should be said. In the Old Testament, the gift of prophecy was given only to certain persons, while abundant sending of the gifts of the Holy Spirit was expected by Old Testament writers in the time of the Messiah (Isa 32:15; Jer 31:33; Zech 12:10). This time, without doubt, is what the prophet Joel has in mind. According to the explanation of the Apostle Peter, in the speech he pronounced before the people, the prophecy of Joel indeed was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, in the fact of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles (Acts 2:14-21). But according to the apostle’s thought, the day of Pentecost was only the beginning of the fulfillment of the prophecy, since the apostle, on the basis of the words of the prophet, promises in the future the sending of the gifts of the Holy Spirit also to all those who repent and are baptized (Acts 2:38-39). One can therefore say that the prophecy of Joel will be fulfilled as long as through repentance and baptism have not entered into the Church, through which the gift of the Holy Spirit is given, “the fullness of the gentiles” (Rom 2:25). With the promise about the sending of the Holy Spirit, the prophet Joel’s foretelling of the coming of the Day of the Lord, that is, of the Last Judgment, is connected. Since the Apostle Peter, in explaining the great event of the day of Pentecost, also brings this foretelling of the prophet Joel, then he considers it to have been fulfilled also on the day of Pentecost. And indeed, by the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles the work of the salvation of mankind was completed, all necessary grace-giving powers were given to people. From this day each person is offered to choose either eternal bliss or condemnation to eternal torment; a new period opens in the history of mankind, to be completed by the day of the Last Judgment over the world. But the great event of the day of Pentecost was only the beginning of the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy about judgment. In its full measure this prophecy will be fulfilled when the foretold terrible phenomena come about, when “the heavens and earth shall be shaken,” “and all the tribes of the earth will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt 24:30).