The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Joel was a prophet in ancient Israel who delivered God's messages to his people during a time of crisis. This verse describes dramatic cosmic signs — the sun going dark and the moon turning blood-red — as signals that will precede what Joel calls 'the day of the Lord.' In the Bible, 'the day of the Lord' refers to a future moment when God intervenes decisively in history to judge evil and make all things right. The word translated 'dreadful' carries the sense of awe-inspiring, even terrifying. This verse was later quoted by the apostle Peter in the New Testament book of Acts when describing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, suggesting these signs point to something both already-beginning and still fully coming.
Lord, the sun and moon remind me that I am not in control of endings — you are. Forgive me for living as though history has no horizon. Help me hold loosely the things I grip so tightly, and give me the honesty to examine which side of your great and dreadful day I want to be standing on. Amen.
A blood moon stops you cold. Scientists explain it as a lunar eclipse — the earth casting its shadow, turning the moon that unsettling shade of copper-red. Joel saw something like this not as a science lesson but as a signal flare from heaven. 'The great and dreadful day of the Lord' is one of Scripture's most arresting phrases precisely because it holds both words at once. Not great despite being dreadful. Not dreadful despite being great. Both, simultaneously. What makes it great and what makes it dreadful often depends entirely on which side of the story you find yourself standing on. We live in an age that has largely stopped believing in endings. We assume history drifts on indefinitely, that tomorrow will mostly look like today. But Joel's God is a God who writes conclusions. If that unsettles you, it's worth sitting with the discomfort rather than rushing past it. The proper response to a horizon that is both dreadful and great isn't panic — it's honesty. Honesty about what you're clinging to, what you're afraid of losing, and whether the One who commands the sun and moon is someone you actually trust.
What do you think the phrase 'great and dreadful' suggests about how different people might experience the day of the Lord — and which word resonates more with how you instinctively respond to that idea?
When you imagine God ultimately judging and setting all things right, does that feel more like relief or fear to you — and what does your honest answer reveal about your relationship with him?
Do you think most Christians actually live as though history is heading somewhere specific and definitive? How might genuinely believing in a real ending change the everyday choices you make?
How does the knowledge that God will ultimately bring justice affect the way you treat people who have wronged you or others — does it make forgiveness feel more possible or less necessary?
Is there something you are holding onto too tightly that this vision of God's ultimate authority is prompting you to release — and what would it look like to actually do that this week?
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
Revelation 6:12
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
Luke 21:25
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2 Peter 3:10
And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Revelation 6:13
And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Acts 2:19
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
Malachi 4:5
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Matthew 24:29
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Malachi 4:1
"The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.
AMP
The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.
ESV
'The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.
NASB
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
NIV
The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
NKJV
The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and terrible day of the LORD arrives.
NLT
the sun turning black and the moon blood-red, Before the Judgment Day of God, the Day tremendous and awesome.
MSG