Book of Joel

The Book of Joel is one of the minor prophets of the Old Testament. It is a small writing, only a handful of pages. It does however manage to convey some powerful messages while employing imagery found throughout the Old Testament. It manages to prophesy an extremely cliché apocalyptic event, describing some cosmic aberrations preceding a final judgement. Joel is also notable for its description of a coming army of "northerners", an idea that also dominates the first few chapters of the Book of Jeremiah. In both of these texts, the coming northern army is considered to be a symbol of impending doom brought on by the Israelites religious apostasy and corruption of justice.

The coming army is described as follows in :

Extremely similar language fear-mongering about the coming 'northerners' is used in Jeremiah.

Despite the elaborate threat directly above, God makes a U-turn halfway through the book and ends up promising them his mercy in :

Joel is also interesting for its laughable prophecy that Egypt will become desolate. declares the following:

Unfortunately for Joel, Egypt hasn't been made desolate yet.

Apocalyptic literature
The Book of Joel also contains a small piece of apocalyptic literature that is dramatic enough to warrant an analysis. reads as follows:

Here we find the mythological motif of cosmic aberrations, something which is very common in apocalyptic literature. These cosmic aberrations, mainly an eclipse-like event and a blood moon, will apparently precede a universal judgement. All the nations will be gathered in a particular valley and be judged. Writing, images, and concepts like this exist throughout the prophetic literature of the Old Testament. See Biblical prophecies.

Day of Pentecost
One of the more important aspects of Joel is that it is cited in the New Testament as having prophesied the Day of Pentecost, an event in which the Holy Spirit descended upon many of the disciples and caused them to speak in tongues.

The writing referenced is, which reads as follows:

cites this as having prophesied the Day of Pentecost. The writing is slightly altered. Acts changes the first verse to read "And it shall come to pass in the last days", yet Joel makes no such distinction.