Discovery BoxJoel 2:2
Context2:2 It will be 1 a day of dreadful darkness, 2
a day of foreboding storm clouds, 3
like blackness 4 spread over the mountains.
It is a huge and powerful army 5 –
there has never been anything like it ever before,
and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! 6
Joel 2:19
Context2:19 The Lord responded 7 to his people,
“Look! I am about to restore your grain 8
as well as fresh wine and olive oil.
You will be fully satisfied. 9
I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.
Joel 3:2
Context3:2 Then I will gather all the nations,
and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. 10
I will enter into judgment 11 against them there
concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance, 12
whom they scattered among the nations.
They partitioned my land,
[2:2] 1 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] 2 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] 3 tn Heb “a day of cloud and darkness.”
[2:2] 4 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] 5 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
[2:2] 6 tn Heb “it will not be repeated for years of generation and generation.”
[2:19] 7 tn Heb “answered and said.”
[2:19] 8 tn Heb “Look! I am sending grain to you.” The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to suggest imminent action.
[2:19] 9 tc One of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXIIc) inserts “and you will eat” before “and you will be fully satisfied” (the reading of the MT, LXX).
[3:2] 13 sn There is a play on words here. Jehoshaphat in Hebrew means “the Lord has judged,” and the next line in v. 2 further explicates this thought. The location of this valley is uncertain (cf. v. 12). Many interpreters have understood the Valley of Jehoshaphat to be the Kidron Valley, located on the east side of old Jerusalem. Since this is described as a scene of future messianic activity and judgment, many Jews and Muslims have desired to be buried in the vicinity, a fact attested to in modern times by the presence of many graves in the area. A variation of this view is mentioned by Eusebius, Onomasticon 1:10. According to this view, the Valley of Jehoshaphat is located in the Hinnom Valley, on the south side of the old city. Yet another view is held by many modern scholars, who understand the reference to this valley to be one of an idealized and nonliteral scene of judgment.
[3:2] 14 tn Heb “I will execute judgment.”
[3:2] 15 tn Heb “concerning my people and my inheritance Israel.”
