The Meaning of Joel 2:12 Explained

Joel 2:12

KJV: Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

YLT: And also now -- an affirmation of Jehovah, Turn ye back unto Me with all your heart, And with fasting, and with weeping, And with lamentation.

Darby: Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning;

ASV: Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Therefore also now, saith  the LORD,  turn  ye [even] to me with all your heart,  and with fasting,  and with weeping,  and with mourning: 

What does Joel 2:12 Mean?

Context Summary

Joel 2:12-27 - The Averting Of Judgment
To rend the garment is easy, but a broken and contrite heart can be imparted only by the grace of the Holy Spirit. The love of God should bring us to repentance. He takes no pleasure in our miseries and if men repent and turn from their sin they find an immediate and loving welcome to the Father's heart and home. Joel had called for the trumpet to announce war; he now directs the trumpet blast to summon the people, from the highest to the lowest, to plead for help. Prayer and true repentance and faith bring an immediate answer. As the husband yearns over his erring but repentant wife, and is indignant with those who have maltreated her, so will Jehovah remove from us, when we turn to Him, those who have cruelly oppressed us.
The great things Jehovah did against Egypt and Babylon are an earnest of what He will do again. The earth, Joel 2:21; the lower animals, Joel 2:22; and, above all, the children of Zion, literal and spiritual, Joel 2:23, have good reason to rejoice in what awaits them. God promises not only to forgive sin, but to make us happy and well provided as if the locust and cankerworm had never settled upon our lives. [source]

Chapter Summary: Joel 2

1  He shows unto Zion the terribleness of God's judgment
12  He exhorts to repentance;
15  prescribes a fast;
18  promises a blessing thereon
21  He comforts Zion with present,
28  and future blessings

What do the individual words in Joel 2:12 mean?

Therefore now says Yahweh Turn to Me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning
וְגַם־ עַתָּה֙ נְאֻם־ יְהוָ֔ה שֻׁ֥בוּ עָדַ֖י בְּכָל־ לְבַבְכֶ֑ם וּבְצ֥וֹם וּבְבְכִ֖י‪‬ וּבְמִסְפֵּֽד

עַתָּה֙  now 
Parse: Adverb
Root: עַתָּה  
Sense: now.
נְאֻם־  says 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: נְאֻם  
Sense: (Qal) utterance, declaration (of prophet).
יְהוָ֔ה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
שֻׁ֥בוּ  Turn 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: שׁוּב  
Sense: to return, turn back.
עָדַ֖י  to  Me 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular
Root: עַד  
Sense: as far as, even to, until, up to, while, as far as.
בְּכָל־  with  all 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: כֹּל  
Sense: all, the whole.
לְבַבְכֶ֑ם  your  heart 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, second person masculine plural
Root: לֵבָב  
Sense: inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding.
וּבְצ֥וֹם  and  with  fasting 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular
Root: צֹום  
Sense: fast, fasting.
וּבְבְכִ֖י‪‬  and  with  weeping 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular
Root: בְּכִי  
Sense: a weeping, weeping.
וּבְמִסְפֵּֽד  and  with  mourning 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular
Root: מִסְפֵּד  
Sense: wailing.