Isaiah 27:6

27:6 The time is coming when Jacob will take root; ¹ 

Israel will blossom and grow branches.

The produce ²  will fill the surface of the world. ³ 

Isaiah 30:23

30:23 He will water the seed you plant in the ground,

and the ground will produce crops in abundance. ⁴ 

At that time ⁵  your cattle will graze in wide pastures.

Isaiah 45:8

45:8 O sky, rain down from above!

Let the clouds send down showers ⁶  of deliverance!

Let the earth absorb it ⁷  so salvation may grow, ⁸ 

and deliverance may sprout up ⁹  along with it.

I, the Lord, create it. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 67:6

67:6 The earth yields its crops.

May God, our God, bless us!

Psalms 85:11-12

85:11 Faithfulness grows from the ground,

and deliverance looks down from the sky. ¹¹ 

85:12 Yes, the Lord will bestow his good blessings, ¹² 

and our land will yield ¹³  its crops.

Hosea 2:22-23

2:22 then the ground will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;

and they will respond to ‘God Plants’ (Jezreel)! ¹⁴ 

2:23 Then I will plant her as my own ¹⁵  in the land.

I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah).

I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’

And he ¹⁶  will say, ‘You are ¹⁷  my God!’”

Joel 3:18

3:18 On that day ¹⁸  the mountains will drip with sweet wine, ¹⁹ 

and the hills will flow with milk. ²⁰ 

All the dry stream beds ²¹  of Judah will flow with water.

A spring will flow out from the temple ²²  of the Lord,

watering the Valley of Acacia Trees. ²³ 

[27:6]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “the coming ones, let Jacob take root.” הַבָּאִים (habba’im, “the coming ones”) should probably be emended to יָמִים בָאִים (yamim va’im, “days [are] coming”) or בְּיָמִים הַבָּאִים (biyamim habba’im, “in the coming days”).

[27:6]  ² tn Heb “fruit” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[27:6]  ³ sn This apparently refers to a future population explosion. See 26:18.

[30:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he will give rain for your seed which you plant in the ground, and food [will be] the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and abundant.”

[30:23]  ⁵ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[45:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “let the clouds drip with”; KJV “let the skies pour down.”

[45:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “open up” (so NASB); NIV, NLT “open wide.”

[45:8]  ⁸ tc The plural verb should be emended to a singular form. The vav (ו) ending is probably virtually dittographic (note the yod at the beginning of the following word).

[45:8]  ⁹ tc The Hiphil verb form (תַצְמִיחַ, tatsmiakh) should probably be emended to a Qal (תִצְמַח, titsmakh). The יח sequence at the end of the form is probably due to dittography (note the following יַחַד, yakhad).

[45:8]  ¹⁰ tn The masculine singular pronominal suffix probably refers back to יָשַׁע (yasha’, “salvation”).

[85:11]  ¹¹ sn The psalmist already sees undeniable signs of God’s faithfulness and expects deliverance to arrive soon.

[85:12]  ¹² tn Heb “what is good.”

[85:12]  ¹³ tn Both “bestow” and “yield” translate the same Hebrew verb (נָתַן, natan). The repetition of the word emphasizes that agricultural prosperity is the direct result of divine blessing.

[2:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Jezreel.” The use of the name יִזְרְעֶאל (yizré’e’l, “Jezreel”) creates a powerful three-fold wordplay: (1) The proper name יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) is a phonetic wordplay on the similar sounding name יִשְׂרָאֵל (yisra’el, “Israel”): God will answer Israel, that is, Jezreel. (2) The name יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) plays on the verb זָרַע (zara’, “to sow, plant”), the immediately following word: וּזְרַעְתִּיהָ (uzéra’tiha, vav + Qal perfect 1st person common singular + 3rd person feminine singular suffix: “I will sow/plant her”). This wordplay creates a popular etymology for יִזְרְעֶאל meaning, “God sows/plants,” which fits well into the agricultural fertility imagery in 2:21-23 [2:23-25]. (3) This positive connotation of יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) in 2:21-23[23-25] reverses the negative connotation of יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) in 1:4-5 (bloodshed of Jehu in the Jezreel Valley).

[2:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for myself.”

[2:23]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew text, carrying out the reference to the son born in 1:8-9, uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here; some English translations use third person plural (“they,” so KJV, NASB, NIV, CEV) in keeping with the immediate context, which refers to reestablished Israel.

[2:23]  ¹⁷ tn The words “You are” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are implied. It is necessary to supply the phrase in the translation to prevent the reader from understanding the predicate “my God” as an exclamation (cf. NAB).

[3:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and it will come about in that day.”

[3:18]  ¹⁹ tn Many English translations read “new wine” or “sweet wine,” meaning unfermented wine, i.e., grape juice.

[3:18]  ²⁰ 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).

[3:18]  ²¹ tn Or “seasonal streams.”

[3:18]  ²² tn Heb “house.”

[3:18]  ²³ 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.