Bible Strands
Joel 2:9
They storm the city; they run along the wall; they climb into houses, entering through windows like thieves.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet delivers an oracle to Judah describing the coordinated advance of an invading army during a season of divine judgment. The description occurs within a larger sequence detailing the army's unbroken march and the cosmic disturbances that accompany it.
The words — The text highlights יָשֹׁ֗קּוּ (ya.Sho.ku), meaning "they rush," and יַעֲל֑וּ (ya.'a.Lu), meaning "they go up," to depict the invaders' aggressive movement along walls and into dwellings. These verbs frame the physical mechanics of the breach before the text notes their window-entry.
The thread — This imagery of climbing through windows appears in Jeremiah 9:21 regarding death entering fortresses and Exodus 10:6 regarding locusts filling homes. John 10:1 later uses the same climbing-and-entering motif to distinguish a thief from a legitimate shepherd.
Why it lands — The passage demands recognition of the invaders' relentless, unbroken advance as an inescapable judgment. It requires the reader to acknowledge that no fortified space or private dwelling offers protection from the described force.
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
King James Version
They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 9:21 For death has climbed in through our windows; it has entered our fortresses to cut off the children from the streets, the young men from the town squares.
- John 10:1 “Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.
- Exodus 10:6 They will fill your houses and the houses of all your officials and every Egyptian—something neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since the day they came into this land.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh’s presence.