Joel 1:7

1:7 They ¹  have destroyed our ²  vines; ³ 

they have turned our ⁴  fig trees into mere splinters.

They have completely stripped off the bark ⁵  and thrown them aside;

the ⁶  twigs are stripped bare. ⁷ 

Joel 3:13

3:13 Rush forth with ⁸  the sickle, for the harvest is ripe!

Come, stomp the grapes, ⁹  for the winepress is full!

The vats overflow.

Indeed, their evil is great! ¹⁰ 

[1:7]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “my.”

[1:7]  ³ tn Both “vines” and “fig trees” are singular in the Hebrew text, but are regarded as collective singulars.

[1:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “my.”

[1:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “it has completely stripped her.”

[1:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “her.”

[1:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “grow white.”

[3:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “send.”

[3:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “go down” or “tread.” The Hebrew term רְדוּ (rÿdu) may be from יָרַד (yarad, “to go down”) or from רָדָה (radah, “have dominion,” here in the sense of “to tread”). If it means “go down,” the reference would be to entering the vat to squash the grapes. If it means “tread,” the verb would refer specifically to the action of those who walk over the grapes to press out their juice. The phrase “the grapes” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[3:13]  ¹⁰ sn The immediacy of judgment upon wickedness is likened to the urgency required for a harvest that has reached its pinnacle of development. When the harvest is completely ripe, there can be no delay by the reapers in gathering the harvest. In a similar way, Joel envisions a time when human wickedness will reach such a heightened degree that there can be no further stay of divine judgment (cf. the “fullness of time” language in Gal 4:4).