Old Testament
Joel
Locusts strip the land bare — and God promises to repay the years.
Prophecy · 3 chapters · About 10 minutes
Date uncertain; after a locust plague
Overview
A locust swarm has eaten everything. Joel reads the disaster as an alarm clock: wake up, return, rend your hearts and not your garments.
Then the book turns. God promises restoration so complete it sounds impossible: 'I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten.'
Joel also prophesies the Spirit poured out on sons and daughters, old and young — the verse Peter quotes on Pentecost.
What it keeps returning to
Restored years
God does not just forgive the wasted years — He promises to redeem them.
Rend your hearts
Repentance as interior reality, not religious performance.
The Spirit poured out
The dream of Joel 2 comes true in Acts 2.
Start here
Joel 2:12–14
'Return to me with all your heart.'
Joel 2:25–27
The years the locusts ate, repaid.
Joel 2:28–32
The Spirit on all flesh.
“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.”