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Friday, August 1st, 2025
the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
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Read the Bible

The NET Bible®

Joel 3:15

The sun and moon are darkened; the stars withhold their brightness.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Colors;   Eclipse;   Joel;   Moon;   Stars;   Sun;   Wicked (People);   Scofield Reference Index - Israel;   The Topic Concordance - Day of the Lord;   Enemies;   Gentiles/heathen;   Harvest;   Israel/jews;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Moon, the;   Stars, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Day of the lord;   Stars;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Amos, Theology of;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Eclipse;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Darkness;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Day of the Lord;   Gentiles;   Joel;   Moon;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Joel, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Thessalonians Epistles to the;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Jehoshaphat (2);   Smith Bible Dictionary - Eclipse of the Sun;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Joel (2);  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The sun and moon will grow dark,and the stars will cease their shining.
Hebrew Names Version
The sun and the moon are darkened, And the stars withdraw their shining."
King James Version
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
English Standard Version
The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
New American Standard Bible
The sun and moon have become dark, And the stars have lost their brightness.
New Century Version
The sun and the moon will become dark, and the stars will stop shining.
Amplified Bible
The sun and the moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The sunne & moone shalbe darkened, and the starres shall withdrawe their light.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
The sun and moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness.
Legacy Standard Bible
The sun and moon grow dark,And the stars lose their brightness.
Berean Standard Bible
The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine.
Contemporary English Version
no light from the sun or moon, and stars no longer shine.
Complete Jewish Bible
class="poetry"> "After this, I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions; and also on male and female slaves in those days I will pour out my Spirit. I will show wonders in the sky and on earth — blood, fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and terrible Day of Adonai ." At that time, whoever calls on the name of Adonai will be saved. For in Mount Tziyon and Yerushalayim there will be those who escape, as Adonai has promised; among the survivors will be those whom Adonai has called.
Darby Translation
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
Easy-to-Read Version
The sun and the moon will become dark. The stars will stop shining.
George Lamsa Translation
The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining.
Good News Translation
The sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine.
Lexham English Bible
The sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars have withheld their splendor.
Literal Translation
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall gather in their light.
American Standard Version
The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
Bible in Basic English
The sun and the moon have become dark, and the stars keep back their shining.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
[4:15] The sun and the moon are become black, and the stars withdraw their shining.
King James Version (1611)
The Sunne and the Moone shall be darkened, and the starres shall withdraw their shining.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The sunne and the moone shalbe darkned, and the starres shall withdrawe their light.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their light.
English Revised Version
The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
World English Bible
The sun and the moon are darkened, And the stars withdraw their shining."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The sunne and the moone ben maad derk, and sterris withdrowen her schynyng.
Update Bible Version
The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
Webster's Bible Translation
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
New King James Version
The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness.
New Living Translation
The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine.
New Life Bible
The sun and moon become dark, and the stars stop shining.
New Revised Standard
The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The sun and the moon, have become dark, - and, the stars, have withdrawn their shining,
Douay-Rheims Bible
The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining.
Revised Standard Version
The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
Young's Literal Translation
Sun and moon have been black, And stars have gathered up their shining.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The Sonne and Moone shall be darckened, & the starres shal withdrawe their light.
THE MESSAGE
"The sky turns black, sun and moon go dark, stars burn out. God roars from Zion, shouts from Jerusalem. Earth and sky quake in terror. But God is a safe hiding place, a granite safe house for the children of Israel. Then you'll know for sure that I'm your God , Living in Zion, my sacred mountain. Jerusalem will be a sacred city, posted: ‘ no trespassing .'

Contextual Overview

9 Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for a holy war! Call out the warriors! Let all these fighting men approach and attack! 10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears! Let the weak say, ‘I too am a warrior!' 11 Lend your aid and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves to that place." Bring down, O Lord , your warriors! 12 Let the nations be roused and let them go up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit in judgment on all the surrounding nations. 13 Rush forth with the sickle, for the harvest is ripe! Come, stomp the grapes, for the winepress is full! The vats overflow. Indeed, their evil is great! 14 Crowds, great crowds are in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision! 15 The sun and moon are darkened; the stars withhold their brightness. 16 The Lord roars from Zion; from Jerusalem his voice bellows out. The heavens and the earth shake. But the Lord is a refuge for his people; he is a stronghold for the citizens of Israel. 17 You will be convinced that I the Lord am your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy— conquering armies will no longer pass through it.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Joel 2:10, Joel 2:31, Isaiah 13:10, Matthew 24:29, Luke 21:25, Luke 21:26, Revelation 6:12, Revelation 6:13

Reciprocal: Genesis 1:14 - and let Joshua 10:13 - So the sun Isaiah 24:23 - the moon Isaiah 34:4 - all the Jeremiah 4:23 - the heavens Ezekiel 30:18 - the day Ezekiel 32:7 - I will cover the heaven Joel 2:2 - A day of darkness

Cross-References

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard'?"
Genesis 3:3
but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.'"
Genesis 3:4
The serpent said to the woman, "Surely you will not die,
Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
Genesis 3:7
Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Genesis 3:8
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard.
Genesis 3:10
The man replied, "I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid."
Genesis 3:13
So the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman replied, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate."
Genesis 3:14
The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the wild beasts and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life.
Genesis 3:15
And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring's heel."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The sun and moon shall be darkened,.... Both the politic and ecclesiastic state of antichrist shall be ruined and destroyed; it shall "fare" with Rome Papal as it did with Rome Pagan, at the time of its dissolution; see Revelation 6:12;

and the stars shall withdraw their shining: antichristian princes and nobles in the civil state, and the clergy of all ranks in the church state, shall lose their glory.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The sun and the moon shall be darkened - This may be, either that they shall be outshone by the brightness of the glory of Christ, or that they themselves shall undergo a change, whereof the darkness at the Crucifixion was an image. An ancient writer says ; “As in the dispensation of the Cross the sun failing, there was darkness over all the earth, so when the ‘sign of the Son of man’ appeareth in heaven in the Day of Judgment, the light of the sun and moon and stars shall fail, consumed, as it were by the great might of that sign.” And as the failure of the light of the sun at our Lord’s Passion betokened the shame of nature at the great sin of man, so, at the Day of Judgment, it sets before us the awfulness of God’s judgments, as though “it dared not behold the severity of Him who judgeth and returneth every man’s work upon his own head;” as though “every creature, in the sufferings of others, feared the judgment on itself.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 15. The sun and the moon shall be darkened — High and mighty states shall be eclipsed, and brought to ruin, and the stars - petty states, princes, and governors-shall withdraw their shining; withhold their influence and tribute from the kingdoms to which they have belonged, and set up themselves as independent governors.


 
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