Joel 2:18-27
“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.”
King James Version
After the locust devastation and the call to rend hearts, God answers: grain, wine, and oil again; the northern army removed; and the line generations have clung to — 'I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.' The pledge stands one verse before the Spirit-outpouring promise of 2:28.
Fulfillment References
Joel 2:28-32 Acts 2:16-21
How Traditions Read This Prophecy
Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalRestoration then outpouring — the sequence preaches itself: God repairs the wasted years, then fills the repaired vessel with His Spirit (Acts 2). The order in Joel is the order in every believer's story.
JewishThe locust plague as covenant discipline reversed by repentance; the agricultural promises ground the liturgy of rain (tefillat geshem).
CatholicTemporal restoration as sacrament of spiritual renewal — the healed field precedes the poured Spirit.
Protestant'Restore the years' — the pastoral jewel of the minor prophets: divine repair is retroactive, reaching back into loss.
AcademicWhether Joel's locusts are literal, military metaphor, or both is the book's classic question; the oracle's structure (lament → assurance → outpouring) is the template Acts 2 exploits.
Scholarship & Sources
Acts 2:16's 'this is that' makes Joel the hermeneutical key of Pentecost; on the locust question see Wolff (Joel and Amos, Hermeneia).
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Bible Prophecy Explorer · based on J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy catalogue · an openly Apostolic (Oneness) Pentecostal study resource — all traditions presented fairly. Pastor: C. Myles Young, PhD · Bishop: Nathaniel J. Wilson, Ed.D.