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Selected Verse: Acts 2:20 - Basic English

Verse	Translation	Text
Ac 2:20	Basic English	The sun will become dark and the moon will be turned to blood, before that great day of the Lord comes in glory:
	King James	The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

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Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
The sun shall be turned into darkness - See the notes on Mat 24:29. The same images used here with reference to the sun and moon are used also there: They occur not infrequently, Mar 13:24; Pe2 3:7-10. The shining of the sun is an emblem of prosperity; the withdrawing, the eclipse, or the setting of the sun is an emblem of calamity, and is often thus need in the Scriptures, Isa 60:20; Jer 15:9; Eze 32:7; Amo 8:9; Rev 6:12; Rev 8:12; Rev 9:2; Rev 16:8. To say that the sun is darkened, or turned into darkness, is an image of calamity, and especially of the calamities of war, when the smoke of burning cities rises to heaven and obscures his light. This is not, therefore, to be taken literally, nor does it afford any indication of what will be at the end of the world in regard to the sun. The moon into blood - The word "blood" here means that obscure, sanguinary color which the moon has when the atmosphere is filled with smoke and vapor, and especially the lurid and alarming appearance which it assumes when smoke and flames are thrown up by earthquakes and fiery eruptions, Rev 6:12, "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood," Rev 8:8. In this place it denotes great calamities. The figures used are indicative of wars, and conflagrations, and earthquakes. As these things are Matt. 24 applied to the destruction of Jerusalem; as they actually occurred previous to that event (see the notes on Matt. 24), it may be supposed that the prophecy in Joel had an immediate reference to that. The meaning of the quotation by Peter in this place therefore is, that what occurred on the day of Pentecost was the beginning of the serges of wonders that was to take place during the times of the Messiah. It is not intimated that those scenes were to close or to be exhausted in that age. They may precede that great day of the Lord which is yet to come in view of the whole earth. That great and notable day of the Lord - This is called the great day of the Lord, because on that day he will be signally manifested, more impressively and strikingly than on other times. The word "notable," ἐπιφανῆ epiphanē, means "signal, illustrious, distinguished." In Joel the word is "terrible or fearful"; a word applicable to days of calamity, and trial, and judgment. The Greek word here rendered notable is also in the Septuagint frequently used to denote "calamity" or "times of judgment," Deu 10:21; Sa2 7:23. This will apply to any day in which God signally manifests himself, but particularly to a day when he shall come forth to punish people, as at the destruction of Jerusalem, or at the day of judgment. The meaning is, that those wonders would take place before that distinguished day should arrive when God would come forth in judgment.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

The sun shall be turned into darkness - See the notes on Mat 24:29. The same images used here with reference to the sun and moon are used also there: They occur not infrequently, Mar 13:24; Pe2 3:7-10. The shining of the sun is an emblem of prosperity; the withdrawing, the eclipse, or the setting of the sun is an emblem of calamity, and is often thus need in the Scriptures, Isa 60:20; Jer 15:9; Eze 32:7; Amo 8:9; Rev 6:12; Rev 8:12; Rev 9:2; Rev 16:8. To say that the sun is darkened, or turned into darkness, is an image of calamity, and especially of the calamities of war, when the smoke of burning cities rises to heaven and obscures his light. This is not, therefore, to be taken literally, nor does it afford any indication of what will be at the end of the world in regard to the sun.

The moon into blood - The word "blood" here means that obscure, sanguinary color which the moon has when the atmosphere is filled with smoke and vapor, and especially the lurid and alarming appearance which it assumes when smoke and flames are thrown up by earthquakes and fiery eruptions, Rev 6:12, "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood," Rev 8:8. In this place it denotes great calamities. The figures used are indicative of wars, and conflagrations, and earthquakes. As these things are Matt. 24 applied to the destruction of Jerusalem; as they actually occurred previous to that event (see the notes on Matt. 24), it may be supposed that the prophecy in Joel had an immediate reference to that. The meaning of the quotation by Peter in this place therefore is, that what occurred on the day of Pentecost was the beginning of the serges of wonders that was to take place during the times of the Messiah. It is not intimated that those scenes were to close or to be exhausted in that age. They may precede that great day of the Lord which is yet to come in view of the whole earth.

That great and notable day of the Lord - This is called the great day of the Lord, because on that day he will be signally manifested, more impressively and strikingly than on other times. The word "notable," ἐπιφανῆ epiphanē, means "signal, illustrious, distinguished." In Joel the word is "terrible or fearful"; a word applicable to days of calamity, and trial, and judgment. The Greek word here rendered notable is also in the Septuagint frequently used to denote "calamity" or "times of judgment," Deu 10:21; Sa2 7:23. This will apply to any day in which God signally manifests himself, but particularly to a day when he shall come forth to punish people, as at the destruction of Jerusalem, or at the day of judgment. The meaning is, that those wonders would take place before that distinguished day should arrive when God would come forth in judgment.

Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886]
That great and notable day of the Lord come The Rev. heightens the emphasis by following the Greek order, the day of the Lord, that great and notable day. Notable (ἐπιφανῆ) only here in New Testament. The kindred noun ἐπιφάνεια, appearing (compare our word Epiphany), is often used of the second coming of the Lord. See Ti1 6:14; Ti2 4:1; Tit 2:13.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
The moon shall be turned into blood - A bloody colour: before the day of the Lord - Eminently the last day; though not excluding any other day or season, wherein the Lord shall manifest his glory, in taking vengeance of his adversaries.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood - These are figurative representations of eclipses, intended most probably to point out the fall of the civil and ecclesiastical state in Judea: see the notes on Mat 24:29. That the Sun is darkened when a total eclipse takes place, and that the Moon appears of a bloody hue in such circumstances, every person knows.

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²³ And what other nation in the earth, like your people Israel, did a god go out to take for himself, to be his people, and to make a name for himself, and to do great and strange things for them, driving out a nation and its gods from before his people?

²¹ He is your God, the God of your praise, your God who has done for you all these works of power which your eyes have seen.

⁸ And at the sounding of the second angel, it was as if a great mountain burning with fire was sent into the sea: and a third part of the sea became blood,

¹² And I saw when the sixth stamp was undone, and there was a great earth-shock; and the sun became black as haircloth, and all the moon became as blood;

⁸ And the fourth let what was in his vessel come out on the sun; and power was given to it that men might be burned with fire.

² And he made the great deep open and a smoke went up from it, like the smoke of a great oven; and the sun and the air were made dark because of the smoke.

¹² And at the sounding of the fourth angel, a third part of the sun, and of the moon, and of the stars was made dark, so that there was no light for a third part of the day and of the night.

¹² And I saw when the sixth stamp was undone, and there was a great earth-shock; and the sun became black as haircloth, and all the moon became as blood;

⁹ And it will come about in that day, says the Lord God, that I will make the sun go down in the middle of the day, and I will make the earth dark in daylight:

⁷ And when I put out your life, the heaven will be covered and its stars made dark; I will let the sun be covered with a cloud and the moon will not give her light.

⁹ The mother of seven is without strength; her spirit is gone from her, her sun has gone down while it is still day: she has been shamed and overcome: and the rest of them I will give up to the sword before their haters, says the Lord.

²⁰ Your sun will never again go down, or your moon keep back her light: for the Lord will be your eternal light, and the days of your sorrow will be ended.

⁷ But the present heaven and the present earth have been kept for destruction by fire, which is waiting for them on the day of the judging and destruction of evil men.
⁸ But, my loved ones, keep in mind this one thing, that with the Lord one day is the same as a thousand years, and a thousand years are no more than one day.
⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his word, as he seems to some, but he is waiting in mercy for you, not desiring the destruction of any, but that all may be turned from their evil ways.
¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; and in that day the heavens will be rolled up with a great noise, and the substance of the earth will be changed by violent heat, and the world and everything in it will be burned up.

²⁴ But in those days, after that time of trouble, the sun will be made dark and the moon will not give her light,

²⁹ But straight away, after the trouble of those days, the sun will be made dark and the moon will not give her light and the stars will come down from heaven and the powers of heaven will be moved:

¹³ Looking for the glad hope, the revelation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ;

¹ I give you orders, before God and Christ Jesus, who will be the judge of the living and the dead, and by his revelation and his kingdom;

¹⁴ To keep the word untouched by evil, clear from all shame, till the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ: