---
title: "Joel 2 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/joel/2/
description: "Joel 2, all 32 verses, in the Catholic Public Domain Version with the Latin Vulgate, plus Catechism links and Bp. Challoner’s notes."
---

# Joel 2

Joel 2 is chapter 2 of 3 in the Book of Joel. Here are all 32 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

## Joel 2 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. Blow the trumpet in Zion, wail on my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land be stirred up. For the day of the Lord is on its way; for it is near:
2. a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and whirlwinds. Like the morning reaching over the mountains, they are a numerous and strong people. Nothing like them has existed since the beginning, nor will exist after them, even in the years of generation upon generation.
3. Before their face is a devouring fire, and behind them is a burning flame. The land before them is like a lush garden, and behind them is a desolate desert, and there is no one who can escape them.
4. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and they will rush forward like horsemen.
5. Like the sound of a four-horse chariot, they will leap over the tops of the mountains. Like the sound of a burning flame devouring stubble, they are as a strong people prepared for battle.
6. Before their face, the people will be tortured; each one’s appearance will retreat, as if into a jar.
7. They will rush forward, as if they were strong. Like valiant warriors, they will ascend the wall. The men will advance, each one on his own way, and they will not turn aside from their path.
8. And each one will not hem in his brother; every one will walk in his own rough path. Moreover, they will drop through the breach and not be harmed.
9. They will advance into the city; they will rush through the wall. They will scale the houses; they will go in through the windows, like a thief.
10. Before their face, the earth has trembled, the heavens have been moved. The sun and moon have been obscured, and the stars have retracted their splendor.
11. And the Lord has bestowed his voice before the face of his army. For its military camps are very numerous; for they are strong and they carry out his word. For the day of the Lord is great and so very terrible, and who can withstand it?
12. Now, therefore, the Lord says: “Be converted to me with your whole heart, in fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13. And rend your hearts, and not your garments, and convert to the Lord your God. For he is gracious and merciful, patient and full of compassion, and steadfast despite ill will.
14. Who knows if he might convert and forgive, and bequeath a blessing after him, a sacrifice and a libation to the Lord your God?
15. Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call an assembly.
16. Gather the people, sanctify the church, unite the elders, gather together the little ones and infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom depart from his bed, and the bride from her bridal chamber.
17. Between the vestibule and the altar, the priests, the ministers of the Lord, will weep, and they will say: “Spare, O Lord, spare your people. And do not bequeath your inheritance into disgrace, so that the nations would rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
18. The Lord has been zealous for his land, and he has spared his people.
19. And the Lord responded, and he said to his people: “Behold, I will send you grain and wine and oil, and you will again be filled with them. And I will no longer give you disgrace among the Gentiles.
20. And he who is from the North, I will drive far from you. And I will expel him into an impassable land, and into the desert, with his face opposite the Eastern sea, and his furthest part towards the furthest sea. And his stench will ascend, and his rottenness will ascend, because he has acted arrogantly.
21. Earth, do not be afraid. Exult and rejoice. For the Lord has great esteem for what he has done.
22. Animals of the countryside, do not be afraid. For the beauty of the wilderness has sprung forth. For the tree has borne its fruit. The fig tree and the vine have bestowed their virtue.
23. And you, sons of Zion, exult and rejoice in the Lord your God. For he has given you a teacher of justice, and he will make the early and the late rains descend to you, just as it was in the beginning.
24. And the threshing floors will be filled with grain, and the presses will overflow with wine and oil.
25. And I will repay you for the years which the locust, and the beetle, and the mildew, and the caterpillar consumed: my great strength which I sent upon you.
26. And you will eat with enjoyment, and you will be satisfied, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked miracles with you, and my people will not be confounded forever.
27. And you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and I am the Lord your God, and there is no other, and my people will not be confounded forever.
28. And after this, it will happen that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy; your elders will dream dreams, and your youths will see visions.
29. Moreover, in those days I will pour out my spirit upon my servants and handmaids.
30. And I will grant wonders in the sky and on earth: blood and fire and the vapor of smoke.
31. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall arrive.
32. And it will happen that everyone who will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. For on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and in the remnant whom the Lord will call, there will be salvation, just as the Lord has said.

## Joel 2 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Canite tuba in Sion, ululate in monte sancto meo, conturbentur omnes habitatores terræ: quia venit dies Domini, quia prope est.
2. Dies tenebrarum et caliginis, dies nubis et turbinis; quasi mane expansum super montes populus multus et fortis: similis ei non fuit a principio, et post eum non erit usque in annos generationis et generationis.
3. Ante faciem ejus ignis vorans, et post eum exurens flamma. Quasi hortus voluptatis terra coram eo, et post eum solitudo deserti, neque est qui effugiat eum.
4. Quasi aspectus equorum, aspectus eorum; et quasi equites, sic current.
5. Sicut sonitus quadrigarum super capita montium exilient, sicut sonitus flammæ ignis devorantis stipulam, velut populus fortis præparatus ad prælium.
6. A facie ejus cruciabuntur populi; omnes vultus redigentur in ollam.
7. Sicut fortes current; quasi viri bellatores ascendent murum: viri in viis suis gradientur, et non declinabunt a semitis suis.
8. Unusquisque fratrem suum non coarctabit, singuli in calle suo ambulabunt; sed et per fenestras cadent, et non demolientur.
9. Urbem ingredientur, in muro current, domos conscendent, per fenestras intrabunt quasi fur.
10. A facie ejus contremuit terra, moti sunt cæli, sol et luna obtenebrati sunt, et stellæ retraxerunt splendorem suum.
11. Et Dominus dedit vocem suam ante faciem exercitus sui, quia multa sunt nimis castra ejus, quia fortia et facientia verbum ejus: magnus enim dies Domini, et terribilis valde, et quis sustinebit eum?
12. Nunc ergo, dicit Dominus, convertimini ad me in toto corde vestro, in jejunio, et in fletu, et in planctu.
13. Et scindite corda vestra, et non vestimenta vestra; et convertimini ad Dominum Deum vestrum, quia benignus et misericors est, patiens et multæ misericordiæ, et præstabilis super malitia.
14. Quis scit si convertatur, et ignoscat, et relinquat post se benedictionem, sacrificium et libamen Domino Deo vestro?
15. Canite tuba in Sion, sanctificate jejunium, vocate cœtum:
16. congregate populum, sanctificate ecclesiam, coadunate senes, congregate parvulos, et sugentes ubera; egrediatur sponsus de cubili suo, et sponsa de thalamo suo.
17. Inter vestibulum et altare plorabunt sacerdotes, ministri Domini, et dicent: Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo; et ne des hæreditatem tuam in opprobrium, ut dominentur eis nationes. Quare dicunt in populis: Ubi est Deus eorum?
18. Zelatus est Dominus terram suam, et pepercit populo suo.
19. Et respondit Dominus, et dixit populo suo: Ecce ego mittam vobis frumentum, et vinum, et oleum, et replebimini eis; et non dabo vos ultra opprobrium in gentibus.
20. Et eum qui ab aquilone est procul faciam a vobis, et expellam eum in terram inviam et desertam: faciem ejus contra mare orientale, et extremum ejus ad mare novissimum: et ascendet fœtor ejus, et ascendet putredo ejus, quia superbe egit.
21. Noli timere, terra: exsulta, et lætare, quoniam magnificavit Dominus ut faceret.
22. Nolite timere, animalia regionis, quia germinaverunt speciosa deserti; quia lignum attulit fructum suum, ficus et vinea dederunt virtutem suam.
23. Et, filii Sion, exsultate, et lætamini in Domino Deo vestro, quia dedit vobis doctorem justitiæ, et descendere faciet ad vos imbrem matutinum et serotinum, sicut in principio.
24. Et implebuntur areæ frumento, et redundabunt torcularia vino et oleo.
25. Et reddam vobis annos, quos comedit locusta, bruchus, et rubigo, et eruca: fortitudo mea magna quam misi in vos.
26. Et comedetis vescentes, et saturabimini; et laudabitis nomen Domini Dei vestri, qui fecit mirabilia vobiscum; et non confundetur populus meus in sempiternum.
27. Et scietis quia in medio Israël ego sum, et ego Dominus Deus vester, et non est amplius; et non confundetur populus meus in æternum.
28. Et erit post hæc: effundam spiritum meum super omnem carnem, et prophetabunt filii vestri et filiæ vestræ: senes vestri somnia somniabunt, et juvenes vestri visiones videbunt.
29. Sed et super servos meos et ancillas in diebus illis effundam spiritum meum.
30. Et dabo prodigia in cælo et in terra, sanguinem, et ignem, et vaporem fumi.
31. Sol convertetur in tenebras, et luna in sanguinem, antequam veniat dies Domini magnus et horribilis.
32. Et erit: omnis qui invocaverit nomen Domini, salvus erit: quia in monte Sion et in Jerusalem erit salvatio, sicut dixit Dominus, et in residuis quos Dominus vocaverit.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- cf. CCC ¶ 1430: Interior Penance ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 678: To Judge the Living and the Dead ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 715: God's Spirit and Word in the Time of the Promises ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 1287: Confirmation in the Economy of Salvation ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## The saints

- “Let us use fasting to make up for what we have lost by despising others. Let us offer our souls in sacrifice by means of fasting.” — St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 43, c. 440 (On this theme: verse 12)

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 1: “The day of the Lord” … That is, the time when he will execute justice upon sinners.
- Verse 2: “A numerous and strong people” … The Assyrians, or Chaldeans. Others understand all this of an army of locusts laying waste the land.
- Verse 20: Some understand this of Holofernes and his army: others, of the locusts.

## Read at Mass (US)

- Wed, Feb 10, 2027: Ash Wednesday — First Reading, Joel 2:12-18
- Wed, Feb 17, 2027: Wednesday of the First Week in Lent — Verse before the Gospel, Joel 2:12-13
- Tue, Mar 2, 2027: Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent — Verse before the Gospel, Joel 2:12-13
- Thu, Mar 4, 2027: Thursday of the Third Week of Lent — Verse before the Gospel, Joel 2:12-13

6 more dates through December 31, 2028, in the [liturgical calendar](https://blessbible.app/calendar/).

Citations as published in the USCCB liturgical calendar (principal Mass, first option).

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).