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Lenten Season · Ash Wednesday · Year C

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12

Blow the Trumpet: A Call to Return to the Lord

March 1, 2028

The Prophet Joel, Michelangelo
The Prophet Joel, Michelangelo, 1509Sistine Chapel, Vatican City
Another of the ceiling's prophets, Joel unrolling a scroll with both hands and reading intently along it.Rend your hearts and not your clothing: these are Joel's words, and he is painted in the act of reading them off the roll.MichelangeloSculptor first and painter under protest, who spent four years on his back on the Sistine ceiling and produced the most consequential painting in Europe.Sistine Chapel, Vatican CityThe pope's chapel, where conclaves are held, decorated by Perugino, Botticelli and Ghirlandaio before Michelangelo was ever asked.Sistine Chapel, Vatican City
Revised Common Lectionary
GospelMatt. 6:1-6, 16-21Mt 6:1-6, 16-21
Epistle2 Cor. 5:20b-6:102 Cor 5:20b-6:10
Old TestamentJoel 2:1-2, 12-17Jl 2:1-2, 12-17 orIsa. 58:1-12Is 58:1-12
PsalterPs. 51:1-17Ps 51:1-17

Overview & Insights

"Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart... rend your hearts and not your clothing." (Joel 2:12-13)

Joel sounds the alarm for an approaching day of the Lord pictured as a locust army, then calls the whole community, priests included, to fast and return to a God who is gracious and merciful. The passage supplies Ash Wednesday's classic summons to communal repentance.

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Take it further: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12

Commentary

Commentary on Joel 2:1-2, 12-17Commentary on Jl 2:1-2, 12-17 Working Preacher

Working Preacher's reading of Joel's alarm and call to communal fasting.

Joel 2 - David GuzikJl 2 - David Guzik Enduring Word · David Guzik

Verse by verse commentary on the locust-army imagery and the call to rend hearts.

Joel 2 CommentaryJl 2 Commentary Precept Austin

Detailed word study on the day of the Lord and Joel's summons to repentance.

Joel 2:1 CommentariesJl 2:1 Commentaries BibleHub

Aggregated classic commentaries on the trumpet alarm that opens the passage.

Joel 2 (Barnes' Notes)Jl 2 (Barnes' Notes) StudyLight

Barnes' notes on the locust-army image and the call to a solemn assembly.

Joel 2:1 InterlinearJl 2:1 Interlinear BibleHub

Hebrew text and parsing for the trumpet and day-of-the-Lord vocabulary.

Background & Word Study

Joel Video OverviewJl Video Overview BibleProject

Video overview of Joel's structure from locust plague to promised restoration.

Joel 2 (Hebrew-English)Jl 2 (Hebrew-English) Sefaria

Hebrew-English parallel text of the chapter for direct comparison.

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