Scope Statement
This page gathers passages that use the phrases “day of Jehovah,” “day of the LORD,” “day of the Lord,” and closely related expressions. The passages are first grouped by the immediate recipient of the warning or judgment in each text (Layer 1). They are then followed by a description of the main ways interpreters relate these passages to one another (Layer 2). This page does not attempt to decide which view is correct.
Layer 1 — Organized by Recipient
Judah and Jerusalem
Isaiah 2:12 places the day within the setting of Judah and Jerusalem, directed against the proud and lofty. Lamentations 2:22 says the city’s devastation occurs in the day of Jehovah’s anger.
Zephaniah announces the day in Judah during Josiah’s reign. He uses the expression in Zephaniah 1:7, Zephaniah 1:8, Zephaniah 1:14, and Zephaniah 1:18, and continues in Zephaniah 2:2 and Zephaniah 2:3, where he calls it a day of sacrifice and a day of wrath.
Zechariah 14:1 announces a coming day in which Jerusalem’s spoil is divided within the city.
Malachi announces the great and terrible day in Malachi 4:5 in a post-exilic setting addressed to Israel.
The House of Israel
Amos addresses those within Israel who desire the day in Amos 5:18 and Amos 5:20, describing it as darkness and not light.
Ezekiel refers to the day in Ezekiel 13:5 in a warning directed toward the prophets of Israel, speaking of the battle in the day of Jehovah.
Babylon
In the oracle concerning Babylon, the phrase appears in Isaiah 13:6 and Isaiah 13:9, where the day is associated with destruction and fierce anger directed against that nation.
Egypt
Jeremiah describes the day as a day of vengeance in Jeremiah 46:10 in the context of the battle near the Euphrates, directed toward Egypt. Ezekiel also announces the day in Ezekiel 30:3, where it is described as near and as a time of the nations within an oracle against Egypt.
Edom
Obadiah declares in Obadiah 1:15 that the day of Jehovah is near upon all the nations within a prophecy directed against Edom.
The Land and the Nations Gathered
Joel concentrates the phrase densely within a setting that begins in Zion and expands outward. The day is described in Joel 1:15 as destruction from the Almighty. It appears again in Joel 2:1 and Joel 2:11 as great and very terrible. Cosmic signs precede it in Joel 2:31, and it appears again in Joel 3:14 in connection with the valley of decision and the gathering of nations.
New Testament Usage
In Acts 2:20 Peter quotes Joel’s language about the sun and moon “before the day of the Lord,” applying the prophetic wording in a public address at Jerusalem. Paul refers to “the day of the Lord Jesus” in 1 Corinthians 5:5, speaks of the day coming “as a thief in the night” in 1 Thessalonians 5:2, and warns against panic as though the day were already present in 2 Thessalonians 2:2. Peter speaks of the day in terms of heavens and earth in 2 Peter 3:10.
Layer 2 — Major Ways Interpreters Relate These Passages
Once the passages are placed side by side, a question naturally arises: are these references describing one event, many events, or a recurring pattern? Interpreters differ mainly over how they group the texts, especially when the language expands from a named nation to “all nations,” or from earthly judgment to cosmic imagery.
Single Climactic Future Day
Some interpreters say all the “Day of the Lord” passages point to one future event. In this view, the historical judgments against Babylon and Egypt happened, but they foreshadow a final Day. Passages with cosmic imagery—Joel 2:31, Zechariah 14:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:2, and 2 Peter 3:10—are grouped together as describing that same future intervention.
This approach is most common among classical futurist traditions, including dispensationalists and many historic premillennialists. They expect one climactic end-time event and group the cosmic passages accordingly. Most postmillennial interpreters do not frame the passages this way. While they affirm a future return of Christ and final judgment, they often read many “Day of the Lord” texts as referring to historical judgments and redemptive progress before the final consummation. Preterists likewise do not adopt this single-event model, since they place most of the fulfillment within the original historical setting.
Multiple Historical Days with a Final Escalation
This view says the “Day of the Lord” refers to several historical events, along with one final climactic day. It treats judgments against specific nations as fulfilled in their own time. At the same time, it groups passages that expand in scope or use cosmic language as pointing to a future culmination. In this reading, the prophecy can move from a near crisis to a later fulfillment without clearly marking where the shift occurs.
This model appears among progressive dispensationalists, many covenant theologians, many amillennial interpreters, and many postmillennial interpreters. It allows national judgments to stand as real historical events while still affirming a final future convergence of certain passages. Strict preterists generally do not adopt this framework if it includes a global fulfillment beyond the first century, since they place the fulfillment within the original historical setting.
Primarily Historical Fulfillment
This view says each “Day of the Lord” passage refers to a specific historical event in the prophet’s own time. It anchors the Day to identifiable crises — the fall of Babylon, the defeat of Egypt, the judgment of Israel or Judah — and reads cosmic imagery as prophetic language describing political and national upheaval rather than literal cosmic change.
This approach is most common among preterist interpreters and among scholars who stress the historical-grammatical setting of each text. Because it focuses on the original audience and historical context, it does not group the major cosmic passages into one future event. Futurist traditions generally do not adopt this model for that reason.
Recurring Divine Intervention Pattern
This view says the “Day of the Lord” is not one date but a recurring pattern of divine judgment. In this model, each decisive act of judgment — against a nation, a city, or the wider world — can be called a “Day of the Lord.” It may still affirm a final judgment, but it treats that event as the fullest expression of a pattern already seen throughout Scripture.
This model is most often associated with idealist readings of prophecy and with some strands of Reformed and amillennial theology. Because it stresses theological pattern rather than a single future convergence, strongly chronological futurist systems usually do not adopt it as their primary framework. Strictly historical approaches may also resist it if they focus on identifying specific historical fulfillments rather than broader recurring themes.
These approaches tend to diverge at a few decision points: how cosmic language is handled, how far “all nations” is taken in any given context, and how New Testament usage relates to earlier prophetic usage. This section aims to describe those approaches clearly without arguing for one of them.