34:1 Then Moses ascended from the deserts of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. 7 The Lord showed him the whole land – Gilead to Dan,
9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust. 9:2 Those truly of Israelite descent 8 separated from all the foreigners, 9 standing and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors. 10
9:38 (10:1) 11 “Because of all of this we are entering into a binding covenant 12 in written form; 13 our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have affixed their names 14 on the sealed document.”
10:28 “Now the rest of the people – the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple attendants, and all those who have separated themselves from the neighboring peoples 15 because of the law of God, along with their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all of whom are able to understand –
2:16 Gather the people;
sanctify an assembly!
Gather the elders;
gather the children and the nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom
and the bride from her private quarters. 16
2:17 Let the priests, those who serve the Lord, weep
from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. 17
Let them say, “Have pity, O Lord, on your people;
please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked,
to become a proverb 18 among the nations.
Why should it be said 19 among the peoples,
“Where is their God?”
1 tn The text begins with “(the) day (in) which.” In the Hebrew text v. 10 is subordinate to v. 11, but for stylistic reasons the translation treats v. 10 as an independent clause, necessitating the omission of the subordinating temporal phrase at the beginning of the verse.
2 tn Heb “the
3 tn Heb “my words.” See v. 13; in Hebrew the “ten commandments” are the “ten words.”
4 tn The phrase “this law” is not in the Hebrew text, but English style requires an object for the verb here. Other translations also supply the object which is otherwise implicit (cf. NIV “who do not know this law”; TEV “who have never heard the Law of the Lord your God”).
5 tn Or “am no longer able to lead you” (NIV, NLT); Heb “am no longer able to go out and come in.”
6 tn Heb “gates.”
7 sn For the geography involved, see note on the term “Pisgah” in Deut 3:17.
8 tn Heb “the seed of Israel.”
9 tn Heb “sons of a foreigner.”
10 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 9, 16, 23, 32, 34, 36).
11 sn Beginning with 9:38, the verse numbers through 10:39 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:38 ET = 10:1 HT, 10:1 ET = 10:2 HT, 10:2 ET = 10:3 HT, etc., through 10:39 ET = 10:40 HT. Beginning with 11:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
12 tn Heb “we are cutting.”
13 tn Heb “and writing.”
14 tn Heb “our leaders, our Levites, and our priests on the sealed document.” The Hebrew text is elliptical here; the words “have affixed their names” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons. Cf. v. 2.
15 tn Heb “from the peoples of the lands.” Cf. vv. 30, 31.
16 sn Mosaic law allowed men recently married, or about to be married, to be exempt for a year from certain duties that were normally mandatory, such as military obligation (cf. Deut 20:7; 24:5). However, Joel pictures a time of such urgency that normal expectations must give way to higher requirements.
17 tn Heb “between the vestibule and the altar.” The vestibule was located at the entrance of the temple and the altar was located at the other end of the building. So “between the vestibule and the altar” is a merism referring to the entire structure. The priestly lament permeates the entire house of worship.
18 tn For the MT reading לִמְשָׁל (limshol, an infinitive, “to rule”), one should instead read לְמָשָׁל (lÿmashal, a noun, “to a byword”). While the consonantal Hebrew text permits either, the context suggests that the concern here is more one of not wanting to appear abandoned by God to ongoing economic depression rather than one of concern over potential political subjection of Israel (cf. v. 19). The possibility that the form in the MT is an infinitive construct of the denominative verb II מָשַׁל (mashal, “to utter a proverb”) does not seem likely because of the following preposition (Hebrew בְּ [bÿ], rather than עַל [’al]).
19 tn Heb “Why will they say?”
20 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
21 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated; nor is it translated before each of the following categories, since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.
22 tn Grk “chiliarchs.” A chiliarch was normally a military officer commanding a thousand soldiers, but here probably used of higher-ranking commanders like generals (see L&N 55.15; cf. Rev 6:15).
23 tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.
24 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
25 tn Grk “another book was opened, which is of life.”
26 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the books being opened.
27 tn Grk “from the things written in the books according to their works.”