Joel 2:12-14
Even now, says the Lord — return with all Your heart, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and He may relent and leave a blessing behind.
12 “Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”
13 Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering to Yahweh, your God.
Even now, says the LORD — return with all your heart, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and he may relent and leave a blessing behind.
To deliver the LORD's own gracious summons to wholehearted return — with fasting, weeping, and mourning — grounded in his character as gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
This unit is the hinge of Joel: it follows the unanswerable rhetorical question of 2:11 (who can endure?) and precedes the enactment of the summons in 2:15-17. The even now of 2:12 is the book's turning point — from alarm to invitation. The appeal to the Exodus 34:6-7 character formula grounds the invitation in the foundational covenant self-disclosure of the LORD.
The Alarm of the Day of the LORD and the Promise of Restoration
When the day of the LORD exposes the terror of judgment, God summons his people to wholehearted return and promises restoration, Spirit-outpouring, and salvation for all who call on his name.