Joel 1:13

1:13 Get dressed ¹  and lament, you priests!

Wail, you who minister at the altar!

Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God,

because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings

to the temple of your God anymore. ² 

Joel 1:16

1:16 Our food has been cut off right before our eyes! ³ 

There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God! ⁴ 

Joel 3:17

The Lord’s Presence in Zion

3:17 You will be convinced ⁵  that I the Lord am your God,

dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain.

Jerusalem ⁶  will be holy –

conquering armies ⁷  will no longer pass through it.

Joel 1:14

1:14 Announce a holy fast; ⁸ 

proclaim a sacred assembly.

Gather the elders and ⁹  all the inhabitants of the land

to the temple of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

Joel 2:13-14

2:13 Return to the Lord your God,

for he is merciful and compassionate,

slow to anger and boundless in loyal love ¹⁰  – often relenting from calamitous punishment. ¹¹ 

2:14 Who knows?

Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve, ¹² 

and leave blessing in his wake ¹³  –

a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the Lord your God! ¹⁴ 

Joel 2:23

2:23 Citizens of Zion, ¹⁵  rejoice!

Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done! ¹⁶ 

For he has given to you the early rains ¹⁷  as vindication.

He has sent ¹⁸  to you the rains –

both the early and the late rains ¹⁹  as formerly.

Joel 2:26-27

2:26 You will have plenty to eat,

and your hunger will be fully satisfied; ²⁰ 

you will praise the name of the Lord your God,

who has acted wondrously in your behalf.

My people will never again be put to shame.

2:27 You will be convinced that I am in the midst of Israel.

I am the Lord your God; there is no other.

My people will never again be put to shame.

Joel 2:17

2:17 Let the priests, those who serve the Lord, weep

from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. ²¹ 

Let them say, “Have pity, O Lord, on your people;

please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked,

to become a proverb ²²  among the nations.

Why should it be said ²³  among the peoples,

“Where is their God?”

Joel 3:5

3:5 For you took my silver and my gold

and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces. ²⁴ 

Joel 1:7

1:7 They ²⁵  have destroyed our ²⁶  vines; ²⁷ 

they have turned our ²⁸  fig trees into mere splinters.

They have completely stripped off the bark ²⁹  and thrown them aside;

the ³⁰  twigs are stripped bare. ³¹ 

Joel 2:11

2:11 The voice of the Lord thunders ³²  as he leads his army. ³³ 

Indeed, his warriors ³⁴  are innumerable; ³⁵ 

Surely his command is carried out! ³⁶ 

Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome ³⁷ 

and very terrifying – who can survive ³⁸  it?

[1:13]  ¹ tn Heb “put on.” There is no object present in the Hebrew text, but many translations assume “sackcloth” to be the understood object of the verb “put on.” Its absence in the Hebrew text of v. 13 is probably due to metrical considerations. The meter here is 3 + 3, and that has probably influenced the prophet’s choice of words.

[1:13]  ² tn Heb “for grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.”

[1:16]  ³ tn Heb “Has not the food been cut off right before our eyes?” This rhetorical question expects an affirmative answer; the question has been translated as an affirmation for the sake of clarity and emphasis.

[1:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “joy and gladness from the house of our God?” Verse 16b is a continuation of the rhetorical question begun in v. 16a, but has been translated as an affirmative statement to make the meaning clear. The words “There is no longer any” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[3:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “know.”

[3:17]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “strangers” or “foreigners.” In context, this refers to invasions by conquering armies.

[1:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “consecrate a fast” (so NASB).

[1:14]  ⁸ tc The conjunction “and” does not appear in MT or LXX, but does appear in some Qumran texts (4QXII^c and 4QXII^g).

[2:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “and great of loyal love.”

[2:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he relents from calamity.”

[2:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “turn” or “turn back.”

[2:14]  ¹² tn Heb “leave a blessing behind him.”

[2:14]  ¹³ tn The phrase “for you to offer” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[2:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “sons of Zion.”

[2:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “be glad in the Lord your God.”

[2:23]  ¹⁵ tn Normally the Hebrew word הַמּוֹרֶה (hammoreh) means “the teacher,” but here and in Ps 84:7 it refers to “early rains.” Elsewhere the word for “early rains” is יוֹרֶה (yoreh). The phrase here הַמּוֹרֶה לִצְדָקָה (hammoreh litsdaqah) is similar to the expression “teacher of righteousness” (Heb., מוֹרֶה הַצֶּדֶק , moreh hatsedeq) found in the Dead Sea Scrolls referring to a particular charismatic leader, although the Qumran community seems not to have invoked this text in support of that notion.

[2:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “caused to come down.”

[2:23]  ¹⁷ sn For half the year Palestine is generally dry. The rainy season begins with the early rains usually in late October to early December, followed by the latter rains in March and April. Without these rains productive farming would not be possible, as Joel’s original readers knew only too well.

[2:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you will surely eat and be satisfied.”

[2:17]  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.

[2:17]  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]).

[2:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Why will they say?”

[3:5]  ¹⁹ tn Or perhaps, “temples.”

[1:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “it.” Throughout vv. 6-7 the Hebrew uses singular forms to describe the locust swarm, but the translation uses plural forms because several details of the text make more sense in English as if they are describing the appearance and effects of individual locusts.

[1:7]  ²² tn Heb “my.”

[1:7]  ²³ tn Both “vines” and “fig trees” are singular in the Hebrew text, but are regarded as collective singulars.

[1:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “my.”

[1:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “it has completely stripped her.”

[1:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “her.”

[1:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “grow white.”

[2:11]  ²³ tn Heb “the Lord gives his voice.”

[2:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “before his army.”

[2:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “military encampment.”

[2:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “very large.”

[2:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “he makes his word powerful.”

[2:11]  ²⁸ tn Or “powerful.” Heb “great.”

[2:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “endure.” The MT and LXX read “endure,” while one of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXII^c) has “bear.”