Joel 2:11 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

The Lord, Jehovah, the eternal and almighty God, Lord of hosts, shall utter his voice; summon them in, and encourage them, as a general doth encourage his soldiers engaging in fight; God commands their attendance, and countenanceth their attempts. Before his army of locusts and insects; and of Assyrians, Chaldeans, or Babylonians, signified by locusts. His camp is very great; very numerous and strong, and therefore described by the prophet in a manner almost above belief; it is the host which God gathers together, and by which he will do great things. He is strong; he giveth strength to his army, and is among them the Strong One; he doth by them execute his own purpose and threats, and so shows his strength. That executeth his word; what he hath declared and threatened to do. The day of the Lord: see Joel 1:15. Is great; wherein great sinners are punished, great judgments are executed, by great power in the instruments, and by greater power in the hand that useth them. Very terrible; full of terror, and such as will make the stoutest heart quail. Who can abide it? neither king, nobles, nor warriors, but all faces gather blackness, as it is Joel 2:6,10.