Text -- Joel 1:8-20 (NET)

A Call to Lament

1:8 Wail like a young virgin clothed in sackcloth, lamenting the death of her husband-to-be. 1:9 No one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of the Lord anymore. So the priests, those who serve the Lord, are in mourning. 1:10 The crops of the fields have been destroyed. The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished. The fresh wine has dried up; the olive oil languishes. 1:11 Be distressed, farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished. 1:12 The vine has dried up; the fig tree languishes– the pomegranate, date, and apple as well. In fact, all the trees of the field have dried up. Indeed, the joy of the people has dried up! 1:13 Get dressed and lament, you priests! Wail, you who minister at the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God, because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of your God anymore. 1:14 Announce a holy fast; proclaim a sacred assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the temple of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. 1:15 How awful that day will be! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer. 1:16 Our food has been cut off right before our eyes! There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God! 1:17 The grains of seed have shriveled beneath their shovels. Storehouses have been decimated and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up. 1:18 Listen to the cattle groan! The herds of livestock wander around in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering. 1:19 To you, O Lord, I call out for help, for fire has burned up the grassy pastures, flames have razed all the trees in the fields. 1:20 Even the wild animals cry out to you; for the river beds have dried up; fire has destroyed the grassy pastures.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Joe 1:8

¹ sn The verb is feminine singular, raising a question concerning its intended antecedent. A plural verb would be expected here, the idea being that all the inhabitants of the land should grieve. Perhaps Joel is thinking specifically of the city of Jerusalem, albeit in a representative sense. The choice of the feminine singular verb form has probably been influenced to some extent by the allusion to the young widow in the simile of v. 8.

² tn Or “a young woman” (TEV, CEV). See the note on the phrase “husband-to-be” in the next line.

³ tn Heb “over the death of.” The term “lamenting” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

⁴ sn Heb “the husband of her youth.” The woman described here may already be married, so the reference is to the death of a husband rather than a fiancé (a husband-to-be). Either way, the simile describes a painful and unexpected loss to which the national tragedy Joel is describing may be compared.

NET Notes: Joe 1:9

¹ tn Heb “house.” So also in vv. 13, 14, 16.

² tn Heb “grain offering and drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord,”

NET Notes: Joe 1:10

¹ tn Heb “the field has been utterly destroyed.” The term “field,” a collective singular for “fields,” is a metonymy for crops produced by the fields.

² tn Joel uses intentionally alliterative language in the phrases שֻׁדַּד שָׂדֶה (shuddad sadeh, “the field is destroyed”) and אֲבְלָה אֲדָמָה (’avlah ’adamah, “the ground is in mourning”).

NET Notes: Joe 1:11

¹ tn Heb “embarrassed”; or “be ashamed.”

NET Notes: Joe 1:12

¹ tn This Hebrew word וְתַפּוּחַ (vÿtappuakh) probably refers to the apple tree (so most English versions), but other suggestions that scholars have offered include the apricot, citron, or quince.

² tn These words are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “the sons of man.”

NET Notes: Joe 1:13

¹ tn Heb “put on.” There is no object present in the Hebrew text, but many translations assume “sackcloth” to be the understood object of the verb “put on.” Its absence in the Hebrew text of v. 13 is probably due to metrical considerations. The meter here is 3 + 3, and that has probably influenced the prophet’s choice of words.

² tn Heb “for grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.”

NET Notes: Joe 1:14

¹ tn Heb “consecrate a fast” (so NASB).

² tc The conjunction “and” does not appear in MT or LXX, but does appear in some Qumran texts (4QXII^c and 4QXII^g).

NET Notes: Joe 1:15

¹ tn Heb “Alas for the day!”

² tn There is a wordplay in Hebrew here with the word used for “destruction” (שׁוֹד, shod) and the term used for God (שַׁדַּי, shadday). The exact meaning of “Shaddai” in the OT is somewhat uncertain, although the ancient versions and many modern English versions tend to translate it as “Almighty” (e.g., Greek παντοκράτωρ [pantokratwr], Latin omnipotens). Here it might be rendered “Destroyer,” with the thought being that “destruction will come from the Divine Destroyer,” which should not be misunderstood as a reference to the destroying angel. The name “Shaddai” (outside Genesis and without the element “El” [“God”]) is normally used when God is viewed as the sovereign king who blesses/protects or curses/brings judgment. The name appears in the introduction to two of Balaam’s oracles (Num 24:4, 16) of blessing upon Israel. Naomi employs the name when accusing the Lord of treating her bitterly by taking the lives of her husband and sons (Ruth 1:20-21). In Ps 68:14, Isa 13:6, and the present passage, Shaddai judges his enemies through warfare, while Ps 91:1 depicts him as the protector of his people. In Ezek 1:24 and 10:5 the sound of the cherubs’ wings is compared to Shaddai’s powerful voice. The reference may be to the mighty divine warrior’s battle cry which accompanies his angry judgment.

NET Notes: Joe 1:16

¹ tn Heb “Has not the food been cut off right before our eyes?” This rhetorical question expects an affirmative answer; the question has been translated as an affirmation for the sake of clarity and emphasis.

² tn Heb “joy and gladness from the house of our God?” Verse 16b is a continuation of the rhetorical question begun in v. 16a, but has been translated as an affirmative statement to make the meaning clear. The words “There is no longer any” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: Joe 1:17

¹ tn Heb “seed.” The phrase “the grains of” does not appear in the Hebrew, but has been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

² tc This line is textually uncertain. The MT reads “the seed shrivels in their shovels/clods.” One Qumran manuscript (4QXXII^c) reads “the heifers decay in [their] s[talls].” LXX reads “the heifers leap in their stalls.”

tn These two lines of v. 17 comprise only four words in the Hebrew; three of the four are found only here in the OT. The translation and meaning are rather uncertain. A number of English versions render the word translated “shovels” as “clods,” referring to lumps of soil (e.g., KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

NET Notes: Joe 1:18

¹ tn Heb “how the cattle groan!”

² tn Heb “the herds of cattle are confused.” The verb בּוּךְ (bukh, “be confused”) sometimes refers to wandering aimlessly in confusion (cf. Exod 14:3).

NET Notes: Joe 1:19

¹ tn The phrase “for help” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

² sn Fire here and in v. 20 is probably not to be understood in a literal sense. The locust plague, accompanied by conditions of extreme drought, has left the countryside looking as though everything has been burned up (so also in Joel 2:3).

³ tn Heb “consumed.” This entire line is restated at the end of v. 20.

⁴ tn Heb “the pastures of the wilderness.”

⁵ tn Heb “a flame has set ablaze.” This fire was one of the effects of the drought.

NET Notes: Joe 1:20

¹ tn Heb “beasts of the field.”

² tn Heb “long for you.” Animals of course do not have religious sensibilities as such; they do not in any literal sense long for Yahweh. Rather, the language here is figurative (metonymy of cause for effect). The animals long for food and water (so BDB 788 s.v. עָרַג), the ultimate source of which is Yahweh.

³ tn Heb “sources of water.”

⁴ tn Heb “consumed.”

⁵ tn Heb “the pastures of the wilderness.”