What Does Joel 2:30 Mean in the King James?
And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew verb beneath “shew” means “give,” so these wonders are signs given across both heaven and earth.
THE MEANING
The verse sets the reader inside a disclosure spanning heaven and earth: blood, fire, and smoke rising in palm-like columns. Its signs are public and severe, making rupture visible rather than offering reassurance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a divine sign must arrive as comfort: here, the sign is disturbing and catastrophic.
THE ROOT
וְנָתַתִּי
wenatatti
GROWS FROM
נתן
natan
give, set, place
“shew” in this verse is wenatatti. The Hebrew verb וְנָתַתִּי (wenatatti, “I will give”) adds the sense of something given, not merely displayed. The wonders are placed before the reader across the heavens and the earth.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: gift
מַתָּנָה
A gift is something given; this branch makes the verse’s wonders feel like signs presented to be seen.
nethinim: given ones, those assigned to service
נְתִינִים
This word preserves the root’s sense of assigning or setting something in place, echoing the wonders being given their place in heaven and earth.
תִּימְרוֹת
timrot
GROWS FROM
תמר
tamar
palm tree; an upright form that rises
The rare Hebrew word translated “pillars” is tied to the palm tree. Smoke rises here in a palm-like form, giving the image a living vertical shape rather than the feel of an inert stone column.
ALSO GROWS
tamar: palm tree
תָּמָר
The palm’s upright growth helps disclose the shape carried by the smoke image.
timorah: palm-shaped ornament or carving
תִּמֹרָה
This related form shows the palm motif extending into a shaped column, illuminating the verse’s rising plume.
THE PATTERN
These passages make signs of upheaval visible in the created world, from sky to ground.
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.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;The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.THE THREAD
And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:Acts repeats Joel’s promise with “wonders in heaven above” and “signs in the earth beneath,” making the two realms explicit. The Hebrew verb behind “shew” means “give,” and the quotation carries that sense forward: these signs are given to be seen.
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