Joel 1:4-7

1:4 What the gazam-locust left the ‘arbeh-locust consumed, ¹ 

what the ‘arbeh-locust left the yeleq-locust consumed,

and what the yeleq-locust left the hasil-locust consumed! ² 

1:5 Wake up, you drunkards, ³  and weep!

Wail, all you wine drinkers, ⁴ 

because the sweet wine ⁵  has been taken away ⁶  from you. ⁷ 

1:6 For a nation ⁸  has invaded ⁹  our ¹⁰  land.

There are so many of them they are too numerous to count. ¹¹ 

Their teeth are like those ¹²  of a lion;

they tear apart their prey like a lioness. ¹³ 

1:7 They ¹⁴  have destroyed our ¹⁵  vines; ¹⁶ 

they have turned our ¹⁷  fig trees into mere splinters.

They have completely stripped off the bark ¹⁸  and thrown them aside;

the ¹⁹  twigs are stripped bare. ²⁰ 

Exodus 10:5

10:5 They will cover ²¹  the surface ²²  of the earth, so that you ²³  will be unable to see the ground. They will eat the remainder of what escaped ²⁴  – what is left over ²⁵  for you – from the hail, and they will eat every tree that grows for you from the field.

Exodus 10:15

10:15 They covered ²⁶  the surface ²⁷  of all the ground, so that the ground became dark with them, ²⁸  and they ate all the vegetation of the ground and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green remained on the trees or on anything that grew in the fields throughout the whole land of Egypt.

Jeremiah 5:17

5:17 They will eat up your crops and your food.

They will kill off ²⁹  your sons and your daughters.

They will eat up your sheep and your cattle.

They will destroy your vines and your fig trees. ³⁰ 

Their weapons will batter down ³¹ 

the fortified cities you trust in.

Zechariah 7:14

7:14 ‘Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.’ Thus the land had become desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful ³²  land a waste.”

[1:4]  ¹ tn Heb “eaten.” This verb is repeated three times in v. 4 to emphasize the total devastation of the crops by this locust invasion.

[1:4]  ² tn The four Hebrew terms used in this verse are of uncertain meaning. English translations show a great deal of variation in dealing with these: (1) For ָגּזָם (gazam) KJV has “palmerworm,” NEB “locust,” NAB “cutter”, NASB “gnawing locust,” NIV “locust swarm,” NKJV “chewing locust,” NRSV, NLT “cutting locust(s),” NIrV “giant locusts”; (2) for אַרְבֶּה (’arbeh) KJV has “locust,” NEB “swarm,” NAB “locust swarm,” NASB, NKJV, NRSV, NLT “swarming locust(s),” NIV “great locusts,” NIrV “common locusts”; (3) for יֶלֶק (yeleq) KJV has “cankerworm,” NEB “hopper,” NAB “grasshopper,” NASB “creeping locust,” NIV, NIrV “young locusts,” NKJV “crawling locust,” NRSV, NLT “hopping locust(s)”; (4) for חָסִיל (khasil) KJV has “caterpillar,” NEB “grub,” NAB “devourer,” NASB, NLT “stripping locust(s),” NIV, NIrV “other locusts,” NKJV “consuming locust,” NRSV “destroying locust.” It is debated whether the Hebrew terms describe different species of locusts or similar insects or different developmental stages of the same species, or are virtual synonyms. While the last seems more likely, given the uncertainty over their exact meaning, the present translation has transliterated the Hebrew terms in combination with the word “locust.”

[1:5]  ³ sn The word drunkards has a double edge here. Those accustomed to drinking too much must now lament the unavailability of wine. It also may hint that the people in general have become religiously inebriated and are unresponsive to the Lord. They are, as it were, drunkards from a spiritual standpoint.

[1:5]  ⁴ sn Joel addresses the first of three groups particularly affected by the locust plague. In v. 5 he describes the effects on the drunkards, who no longer have a ready supply of intoxicating wine; in vv. 11-12 he describes the effects on the farmers, who have watched their labors come to naught because of the insect infestation; and in vv. 13-14 he describes the effects on the priests, who are no longer able to offer grain sacrifices and libations in the temple.

[1:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “over the sweet wine, because it.” Cf. KJV, NIV, TEV, NLT “new wine.”

[1:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “cut off” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV); NAB “will be withheld.”

[1:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “your mouth.” This is a synecdoche of part (the mouth) for whole (the person).

[1:6]  ⁸ sn As becomes increasingly clear in what follows, this nation is to be understood figuratively. It refers to the locust invasion as viewed from the standpoint of its methodical, destructive advance across the land (BDB 156 s.v. גּוֹי 2). This term is used figuratively to refer to animals one other time (Zeph 2:14).

[1:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “has come up against.”

[1:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my.”

[1:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[It] is huge and there is not number.”

[1:6]  ¹² tn Heb “its teeth are the teeth of a lion.”

[1:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “its incisors are those of a lioness.” The sharp, cutting teeth are metonymical for the action of tearing apart and eating prey. The language is clearly hyperbolic. Neither locusts nor human invaders literally have teeth of this size. The prophet is using exaggerated and picturesque language to portray in vivid terms the enormity of the calamity. English versions vary greatly on the specifics: KJV “cheek teeth”; ASV “jaw-teeth”; NAB “molars”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “fangs.”

[1:7]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “my.”

[1:7]  ¹⁶ tn Both “vines” and “fig trees” are singular in the Hebrew text, but are regarded as collective singulars.

[1:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “my.”

[1:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “it has completely stripped her.”

[1:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “her.”

[1:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “grow white.”

[10:5]  ²¹ tn The verbs describing the locusts are singular because it is a swarm or plague of locusts. This verb (וְכִסָּה, vÿkhissah, “cover”) is a Piel perfect with a vav consecutive; it carries the same future nuance as the participle before it.

[10:5]  ²² tn Heb “eye,” an unusual expression (see v. 15; Num 22:5, 11).

[10:5]  ²³ tn The text has לִרְאֹת וְלֹא יוּכַל (vÿlo’ yukhal lir’ot, “and he will not be able to see”). The verb has no expressed subjects. The clause might, therefore, be given a passive translation: “so that [it] cannot be seen.” The whole clause is the result of the previous statement.

[10:5]  ²⁴ sn As the next phrase explains “what escaped” refers to what the previous plague did not destroy. The locusts will devour everything, because there will not be much left from the other plagues for them to eat.

[10:5]  ²⁵ tn הַנִּשְׁאֶרֶת (hannish’eret) parallels (by apposition) and adds further emphasis to the preceding two words; it is the Niphal participle, meaning “that which is left over.”

[10:15]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and they covered.”

[10:15]  ²⁷ tn Heb “eye,” an unusual expression (see v. 5; Num 22:5, 11).

[10:15]  ²⁸ tn The verb is וַתֶּחְשַׁךְ (vattekhshakh, “and it became dark”). The idea is that the ground had the color of the swarms of locusts that covered it.

[5:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “eat up.”

[5:17]  ³⁰ tn Or “eat up your grapes and figs”; Heb “eat up your vines and your fig trees.”

[5:17]  ³¹ tn Heb “They will beat down with the sword.” The term “sword” is a figure of speech (synecdoche) for military weapons in general. Siege ramps, not swords, beat down city walls; swords kill people, not city walls.

[7:14]  ³² tn Or “desirable”; traditionally “pleasant” (so many English versions; cf. TEV “This good land”).