Joel 2:25

I will repay you for the years eaten by locusts—the swarming locust, the young locust, the destroying locust, and the devouring locust—My great army that I sent against you.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Lord addresses Judah following a documented agricultural collapse and military assault. He speaks at the threshold of promised harvest recovery and national restoration.

The words — וְשִׁלַּמְתִּי (ve-shillamti) means "I will repay/restore," and אָכַל (akhal) means "eaten." These terms anchor the verse's claim that divine compensation directly offsets the years of crop destruction.

The thread — The locust sequence appears in Joel 1:4, while the promise to restore Judah and Joseph runs in Zechariah 10:6. The contrast between the invasion day described in Joel 2:2 and the promised repayment forms the structural backbone of the passage.

Why it lands — It requires the reader to recognize that the prior devastation was permitted by God and that subsequent abundance is a direct repayment from Him. The text demands acceptance that recovery is divinely orchestrated rather than self-generated.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְשִׁלַּמְתִּ֤יve./shi.lam.Tiand/ I will restoreלָכֶם֙la./Khemto/ youאֶת־'et-<obj.>הַשָּׁנִ֔יםha./sha.Nimthe/ years אֲשֶׁר֙'a.Sherwhich אָכַ֣ל'a.Khalit has eaten הָֽאַרְבֶּ֔הha./'ar.Behthe/ locust[s]הַיֶּ֖לֶקhai./Ye.lekthe/ locust[s]וְהֶחָסִ֣ילve./he./cha.Siland/ the/ locust[s]וְהַגָּזָ֑םve./ha./ga.Zamand/ the/ locust[s]חֵילִי֙chei.L/iarmy/ my הַגָּד֔וֹלha./ga.Dol<the>/ great אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.Sherwhich שִׁלַּ֖חְתִּיshi.Lach.tiI sentבָּכֶֽם׃ba./Khemamong/ you

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Zechariah 10:6 I will strengthen the house of Judah and save the house of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them, and they will be as though I had not rejected them. For I am the LORD their God, and I will answer them.
Joel 1:4 What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.
Joel 2:2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like the dawn overspreading the mountains a great and strong army appears, such as never was of old, nor will ever be in ages to come.