What Does Joel 2:28 Mean?

to exist, i.e., be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary)

“And it shall come to pass afterward”

properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after (in various senses)

properly, set upright; hence (figuratively as adjective) just; but usually (as adverb or conjunction) rightly or so (in various applications to manner

“that I will pour out”

to spill forth (blood, a libation, liquid metal; or even a solid, i.e., to mound up); also (figuratively) to expend (life, soul, complaint, money, etc

properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)

“my spirit”

wind; by resemblance breath, i.e., a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively, life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extension, a region of the

above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications

properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)

“upon all flesh”

flesh (from its freshness); by extension, body, person; also (by euphemistically) the pudenda of a man

“shall prophesy”

to prophesy, i.e., speak (or sing) by inspiration (in prediction or simple discourse)

“and your sons”

a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or

“and your daughters”

a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively)

“your old men”

old

“shall dream”

properly, to bind firmly, i.e., (through the figurative sense of dumbness) to dream

“dreams”

a dream

“your young men”

properly, selected, i.e., a youth (often collective)

“visions”

a revelation, expectation by dream

“shall see”

to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)