Joel 2:20

2:20 I will remove the one from the north ¹  far from you.

I will drive him out to a dry and desolate place.

Those in front will be driven eastward into the Dead Sea, ² 

and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea. ³ 

His stench will rise up as a foul smell.” ⁴ 

Indeed, the Lord ⁵  has accomplished great things.

Amos 4:9

4:9 “I destroyed your crops ⁶  with blight and disease.

Locusts kept ⁷  devouring your orchards, ⁸  vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 7:1-3

Symbolic Visions of Judgment

7:1 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ⁹  him making locusts just as the crops planted late ¹⁰  were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest. ¹¹ ) 7:2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,

“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! ¹² 

How can Jacob survive? ¹³ 

He is too weak!” ¹⁴ 

7:3 The Lord decided not to do this. ¹⁵  “It will not happen,” the Lord said.

Haggai 2:17

2:17 I struck all the products of your labor ¹⁶  with blight, disease, and hail, and yet you brought nothing to me,’ ¹⁷  says the Lord.

[2:20]  ¹ sn The allusion to the one from the north is best understood as having locusts in view. It is not correct to say that this reference to the enemy who came form the north excludes the possibility of a reference to locusts and must be understood as human armies. Although locust plagues usually approached Palestine from the east or southeast, the severe plague of 1915, for example, came from the northeast.

[2:20]  ² tn Heb “his face to the eastern sea.” In this context the eastern sea is probably the Dead Sea.

[2:20]  ³ tn Heb “and his rear to the western sea.” The western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea.

[2:20]  ⁴ sn Heb “and his foul smell will ascend.” The foul smell probably refers to the unpleasant odor of decayed masses of dead locusts. The Hebrew word for “foul smell” is found only here in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word for “stench” appears only here and in Isa 34:3 and Amos 4:10. In the latter references it refers to the stench of dead corpses on a field of battle.

[2:20]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text does not have “the Lord.” Two interpretations are possible. This clause may refer to the enemy described in the immediately preceding verses, in which case it would have a negative sense: “he has acted in a high-handed manner.” Or it may refer to the Lord, in which case it would have a positive sense: “the Lord has acted in a marvelous manner.” This is clearly the sense of the same expression in v. 21, where in fact “the Lord” appears as the subject of the verb. It seems best to understand the clause the same way in both verses.

[4:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “you.” By metonymy the crops belonging to these people are meant. See the remainder of this verse, which describes the agricultural devastation caused by locusts.

[4:9]  ⁷ tn The Hiphil infinitive construct is taken adverbially (“kept”) and connected to the activity of the locusts (NJPS). It also could be taken with the preceding sentence and related to the Lord’s interventions (“I kept destroying,” cf. NEB, NJB, NIV, NRSV), or it could be understood substantivally in construct with the following nouns (“Locusts devoured your many orchards,” cf. NASB; cf. also KJV, NKJV).

[4:9]  ⁸ tn Or “gardens.”

[7:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[7:1]  ¹⁰ sn The crops planted late (consisting of vegetables) were planted in late January-early March and sprouted in conjunction with the spring rains of March-April. For a discussion of the ancient Israelite agricultural calendar, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 31-44.

[7:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “the mowings of the king.”

[7:2]  ¹² tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[7:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “small.”

[7:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “changed his mind about this.”

[2:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “you, all the work of your hands”; NRSV “you and all the products of your toil”; NIV “all the work of your hands.”

[2:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and there was not with you.” The context favors the idea that the harvests were so poor that the people took care of only themselves, leaving no offering for the Lord. Cf. KJV and many English versions “yet ye turned not to me,” understanding the phrase to refer to the people’s repentance rather than their failure to bring offerings.