4:28 Because of this the land will mourn
and the sky above will grow black. 1
For I have made my purpose known 2
and I will not relent or turn back from carrying it out.” 3
12:4 How long must the land be parched 4
and the grass in every field be withered?
How long 5 must the animals and the birds die
because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? 6
For these people boast,
“God 7 will not see what happens to us.” 8
3:26 Her gates will mourn and lament;
deprived of her people, she will sit on the ground. 9
4:3 Therefore the land will mourn,
and all its inhabitants will perish. 10
The wild animals, 11 the birds of the sky,
and even the fish in the sea will perish.
1:10 The crops of the fields 12 have been destroyed. 13
The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished.
The fresh wine has dried up;
the olive oil languishes.
1 sn The earth and the heavens are personified here and depicted in the act of mourning and wearing black clothes because of the destruction of the land of Israel.
2 tn Heb “has spoken and purposed.” This is an example of hendiadys where two verbs are joined by “and” but one is meant to serve as a modifier of the other.
3 tn Heb “will not turn back from it.”
4 tn The verb here is often translated “mourn.” However, this verb is from a homonymic root meaning “to be dry” (cf. HALOT 7 s.v. II אָבַל and compare Hos 4:3 for usage).
5 tn The words “How long” are not in the text. They are carried over from the first line.
6 tn Heb “because of the wickedness of those who live in it.”
7 tn Heb “he.” The referent is usually identified as God and is supplied here for clarity. Some identify the referent with Jeremiah. If that is the case, then he returns to his complaint about the conspirators. It is more likely, however, that it refers to God and Jeremiah’s complaint that the people live their lives apart from concern about God.
8 tc Or reading with the Greek version, “God does not see what we are doing.” In place of “what will happen to us (אַחֲרִיתֵנוּ, ’akharitenu, “our end”) the Greek version understands a Hebrew text which reads “our ways” (אָרְחוֹתֵנו, ’orkhotenu), which is graphically very close to the MT. The Masoretic is supported by the Latin and is retained here on the basis of external evidence. Either text makes good sense in the context. Some identify the “he” with Jeremiah and understand the text to be saying that the conspirators are certain that they will succeed and he will not live to see his prophecies fulfilled.
9 tn Heb “she will be empty, on the ground she will sit.” Jerusalem is personified as a destitute woman who sits mourning the empty city.
10 tn Or “languish” (so KJV, NRSV); NIV “waste away.”
11 tn Heb “the beasts of the field” (so NAB, NIV).
12 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.
13 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”).