Joel 1:6

1:6 For a nation ¹  has invaded ²  our ³  land.

There are so many of them they are too numerous to count. ⁴ 

Their teeth are like those ⁵  of a lion;

they tear apart their prey like a lioness. ⁶ 

Joel 2:2

2:2 It will be ⁷  a day of dreadful darkness, ⁸ 

a day of foreboding storm clouds, ⁹ 

like blackness ¹⁰  spread over the mountains.

It is a huge and powerful army ¹¹  –

there has never been anything like it ever before,

and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! ¹² 

Joel 2:5

2:5 They sound like ¹³  chariots rumbling ¹⁴  over mountain tops,

like the crackling ¹⁵  of blazing fire consuming stubble,

like the noise of ¹⁶  a mighty army ¹⁷  being drawn up for battle. ¹⁸ 

Joel 2:11

2:11 The voice of the Lord thunders ¹⁹  as he leads his army. ²⁰ 

Indeed, his warriors ²¹  are innumerable; ²² 

Surely his command is carried out! ²³ 

Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome ²⁴ 

and very terrifying – who can survive ²⁵  it?

[1:6]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “has come up against.”

[1:6]  ³ tn Heb “my.”

[1:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “[It] is huge and there is not number.”

[1:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “its teeth are the teeth of a lion.”

[1:6]  ⁶ 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.”

[2:2]  ⁷ tn The phrase “It will be” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style.

[2:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “darkness and gloom.” These two terms probably form a hendiadys here. This picture recalls the imagery of the supernatural darkness in Egypt during the judgments of the exodus (Exod 10:22). These terms are also frequently used as figures (metonymy of association) for calamity and divine judgment (Isa 8:22; 59:9; Jer 23:12; Zeph 1:15). Darkness is often a figure (metonymy of association) for death, dread, distress and judgment (BDB 365 s.v. חשֶׁךְ 3).

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “a day of cloud and darkness.”

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tc The present translation here follows the proposed reading שְׁחֹר (shÿkhor, “blackness”) rather than the MT שַׁחַר (shakhar, “morning”). The change affects only the vocalization; the Hebrew consonants remain unchanged. Here the context calls for a word describing darkness. The idea of morning or dawn speaks instead of approaching light, which does not seem to fit here. The other words in the verse (e.g., “darkness,” “gloominess,” “cloud,” “heavy overcast”) all emphasize the negative aspects of the matter at hand and lead the reader to expect a word like “blackness” rather than “dawn.” However, NIrV paraphrases the MT nicely: “A huge army of locusts is coming. They will spread across the mountains like the sun when it rises.”

[2:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “A huge and powerful people”; KJV, ASV “a great people and a strong.” Many interpreters understand Joel 2 to describe an invasion of human armies, either in past history (e.g., the Babylonian invasion of Palestine in the sixth century b.c.) or in an eschatological setting. More probably, however, the language of this chapter referring to “people” and “armies” is a hypocatastic description of the locusts of chapter one. Cf. TEV “The great army of locusts advances like darkness.”

[2:2]  ¹² tn Heb “it will not be repeated for years of generation and generation.”

[2:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “like the sound of.”

[2:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “jostling” or “leaping.” There is question whether this pictures chariots rumbling over the mountains (e.g., 2 Sam 6:14,16; 1 Chr 15:29; Nah 3:2) or the locusts flying – or “leaping” – over the mountains (e.g., Job 21:11); see BDB 955 s.v. רָקַד.

[2:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “sound.”

[2:5]  ¹⁶ tn The phrase “the noise of” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is implied by the parallelism, so it has been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[2:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “people.”

[2:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “being arrayed of battle.”

[2:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the Lord gives his voice.”

[2:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “before his army.”

[2:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “military encampment.”

[2:11]  ²² tn Heb “very large.”

[2:11]  ²³ tn Heb “he makes his word powerful.”

[2:11]  ²⁴ tn Or “powerful.” Heb “great.”

[2:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “endure.” The MT and LXX read “endure,” while one of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXII^c) has “bear.”