16:8 For the fields of Heshbon are dried up,
as well as the vines of Sibmah.
The rulers of the nations trample all over its vines,
which reach Jazer and spread to the desert;
their shoots spread out and cross the sea.
16:10 Joy and happiness disappear from the orchards,
and in the vineyards no one rejoices or shouts;
no one treads out juice in the wine vats 1 –
I have brought the joyful shouts to an end. 2
32:9 You complacent 3 women,
get up and listen to me!
You carefree 4 daughters,
pay attention to what I say!
32:10 In a year’s time 5
you carefree ones will shake with fear,
for the grape 6 harvest will fail,
and the fruit harvest will not arrive.
32:11 Tremble, you complacent ones!
Shake with fear, you carefree ones!
Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves –
put sackcloth on your waist! 7
32:12 Mourn over the field, 8
over the delightful fields
and the fruitful vine!
32:13 Mourn 9 over the land of my people,
which is overgrown with thorns and briers,
and over all the once-happy houses 10
in the city filled with revelry. 11
9:1 O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly 12 like the nations,
for you are unfaithful 13 to your God.
You love to receive a prostitute's wages 14
on all the floors where you thresh your grain.
9:2 Threshing floors and wine vats will not feed the people, 15
and new wine only deceives them. 16
1:10 The crops of the fields 17 have been destroyed. 18
The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished.
The fresh wine has dried up;
the olive oil languishes.
1:11 Be distressed, 19 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 20 as well.
In fact, 21 all the trees of the field have dried up.
Indeed, the joy of the people 22 has dried up!
1 tn Heb “wine in the vats the treader does not tread.”
2 sn The Lord appears to be the speaker here. See 15:9.
3 tn Or “self-assured”; NASB, NRSV “who are at ease.”
4 tn Or “self-confident”; NAB “overconfident.”
5 tn Heb “days upon a year.”
6 tn Or perhaps, “olive.” See 24:13.
7 tn The imperatival forms in v. 11 are problematic. The first (חִרְדוּ, khirdu, “tremble”) is masculine plural in form, though spoken to a feminine plural addressee (שַׁאֲנַנּוֹת, sha’anannot, “complacent ones”). The four imperatival forms that follow (רְגָזָה, rÿgazah, “shake with fear”; פְּשֹׁטָה, pÿshotah, “strip off your clothes”; עֹרָה, ’orah, “expose yourselves”; and חֲגוֹרָה, khagorah, “put on”) all appear to be lengthened (so-called “emphatic”) masculine singular forms, even though they too appear to be spoken to a feminine plural addressee. GKC 131-32 §48.i suggests emending חִרְדוּ (khirdu) to חֲרָדָה (kharadah) and understanding all five imperatives as feminine plural “aramaized” forms.
8 tc The Hebrew text has “over mourning breasts.” The reference to “breasts” would make sense in light of v. 11, which refers to the practice of women baring their breasts as a sign of sorrow (see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:585). However, one expects the preposition עַל (’al) to introduce the source or reason for mourning (see vv. 12b-13a) and the participle סֹפְדִים (sofedim, “mourning”) seems odd modifying “breasts.” The translation above assumes a twofold emendation: (1) שָׁדַיִם (shadayim, “breasts”) is emended to [ם]שָׂדַי (saday[m], “field,” a term that also appears in Isa 56:9). The final mem (ם) would be enclitic in this case, not a plural indicator. (The Hebrew noun שָׂדֶה (sadeh, “field”) forms its plural with an וֹת- [-ot] ending). (2) The plural participle סֹפְדִים is emended to סְפֹדָה (sÿfodah), a lengthened imperatival form, meaning “mourn.” For an overview of various suggestions that have been made for this difficult line, see Oswalt, 586, n. 12).
9 tn “Mourn” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.
10 tn Heb “indeed, over all the houses of joy.” It is not certain if this refers to individual homes or to places where parties and celebrations were held.
11 sn This same phrase is used in 22:2.
12 tn Heb “do not rejoice unto jubilation”; KJV “Rejoice not…for joy”; NASB “Do not rejoice…with exultation.”
13 tn Heb “you have committed adultery”; NRSV “you have played the whore.”
14 tn Heb “you love the wages of the prostitute” (NIV similar); NAB “loving a harlot’s hire.”
15 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Heb “her” (so KJV, ASV). This is taken as a collective singular (so also most modern English versions).
17 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.
18 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”).
19 tn Heb “embarrassed”; or “be ashamed.”
20 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.
21 tn These words are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
22 tn Heb “the sons of man.”