Text -- Joel 3:12-21 (NET)

3:12 Let the nations be roused and let them go up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit in judgment on all the surrounding nations. 3:13 Rush forth with the sickle, for the harvest is ripe! Come, stomp the grapes, for the winepress is full! The vats overflow. Indeed, their evil is great! 3:14 Crowds, great crowds are in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision! 3:15 The sun and moon are darkened; the stars withhold their brightness. 3:16 The Lord roars from Zion; from Jerusalem his voice bellows out. The heavens and the earth shake. But the Lord is a refuge for his people; he is a stronghold for the citizens of Israel.

The Lord’s Presence in Zion

3:17 You will be convinced that I the Lord am your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy– conquering armies will no longer pass through it. 3:18 On that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the dry stream beds of Judah will flow with water. A spring will flow out from the temple of the Lord, watering the Valley of Acacia Trees. 3:19 Egypt will be desolate and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood. 3:20 But Judah will reside securely forever, and Jerusalem will be secure from one generation to the next. 3:21 I will avenge their blood which I had not previously acquitted. It is the Lord who dwells in Zion!

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Joe 3:13

¹ tn Heb “send.”

² tn Heb “go down” or “tread.” The Hebrew term רְדוּ (rÿdu) may be from יָרַד (yarad, “to go down”) or from רָדָה (radah, “have dominion,” here in the sense of “to tread”). If it means “go down,” the reference would be to entering the vat to squash the grapes. If it means “tread,” the verb would refer specifically to the action of those who walk over the grapes to press out their juice. The phrase “the grapes” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

³ sn The immediacy of judgment upon wickedness is likened to the urgency required for a harvest that has reached its pinnacle of development. When the harvest is completely ripe, there can be no delay by the reapers in gathering the harvest. In a similar way, Joel envisions a time when human wickedness will reach such a heightened degree that there can be no further stay of divine judgment (cf. the “fullness of time” language in Gal 4:4).

NET Notes: Joe 3:14

¹ sn The decision referred to here is not a response on the part of the crowd, but the verdict handed out by the divine judge.

NET Notes: Joe 3:15

¹ tn Heb “gather in.”

NET Notes: Joe 3:16

¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

² tn Heb “he sounds forth his voice.”

³ tn Or “the sky.” See the note on “sky” in 2:30.

⁴ tn Heb “sons.”

NET Notes: Joe 3:17

¹ tn Heb “know.”

² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

³ tn Heb “strangers” or “foreigners.” In context, this refers to invasions by conquering armies.

NET Notes: Joe 3:18

¹ tn Heb “and it will come about in that day.”

² tn Many English translations read “new wine” or “sweet wine,” meaning unfermented wine, i.e., grape juice.

³ sn The language used here is a hyperbolic way of describing both a bountiful grape harvest (“the mountains will drip with juice”) and an abundance of cattle (“the hills will flow with milk”). In addition to being hyperbolic, the language is also metonymical (effect for cause).

⁴ tn Or “seasonal streams.”

⁵ tn Heb “house.”

⁶ tn Heb “valley of Shittim.” The exact location of the Valley of Acacia Trees is uncertain. The Hebrew word שִׁטִּים (shittim) refers to a place where the acacia trees grow, which would be a very arid and dry place. The acacia tree can survive in such locations, whereas most other trees require more advantageous conditions. Joel’s point is that the stream that has been mentioned will proceed to the most dry and barren of locations in the vicinity of Jerusalem.

NET Notes: Joe 3:19

¹ tn Heb “violence of the sons of Judah.” The phrase “of the sons of Judah” is an objective genitive (cf. KJV “the violence against the children of Judah”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “violence done to the people of Judah”). It refers to injustices committed against the Judeans, not violence that the Judeans themselves had committed against others.

NET Notes: Joe 3:20

¹ tn The phrase “will be secure” does not appear in the Hebrew, but are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.

NET Notes: Joe 3:21

¹ tc The present translation follows the reading וְנִקַּמְתִּי (vÿniqqamti, “I will avenge”) rather than וְנִקֵּתִי (vÿniqqeti, “I will acquit”) of the MT.