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 2:3

2:3 Like fire they devour everything in their path; ³ 

a flame blazes behind them.

The land looks like the Garden of Eden ⁴  before them,

but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness –

for nothing escapes them! ⁵ 

Joel 2:11

2:11 The voice of the Lord thunders ⁶  as he leads his army. ⁷ 

Indeed, his warriors ⁸  are innumerable; ⁹ 

Surely his command is carried out! ¹⁰ 

Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome ¹¹ 

and very terrifying – who can survive ¹²  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.”

[2:3]  ³ tn Heb “a fire devours before it.”

[2:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “like the garden of Eden, the land is before them.”

[2:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and surely a survivor there is not for it.” The antecedent of the pronoun “it” is apparently עַם (’am, “people”) of v. 2, which seems to be a figurative way of referring to the locusts. K&D 26:191-92 thought that the antecedent of this pronoun was “land,” but the masculine gender of the pronoun does not support this.

[2:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord gives his voice.”

[2:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “before his army.”

[2:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “military encampment.”

[2:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “very large.”

[2:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “he makes his word powerful.”

[2:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or “powerful.” Heb “great.”

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