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.

Joel 3:13

3:13 Rush forth with ⁶  the sickle, for the harvest is ripe!

Come, stomp the grapes, ⁷  for the winepress is full!

The vats overflow.

Indeed, their evil is great! ⁸ 

Joel 2:16

2:16 Gather the people;

sanctify an assembly!

Gather the elders;

gather the children and the nursing infants.

Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom

and the bride from her private quarters. ⁹ 

Joel 2:15

2:15 Blow the trumpet ¹⁰  in Zion.

Announce a holy fast;

proclaim a sacred assembly!

Joel 2:9

2:9 They rush into ¹¹  the city;

they scale ¹²  its walls.

They climb up into the houses;

they go in through the windows like a thief.

Joel 3:7

3:7 Look! I am rousing them from that place to which you sold them.

I will repay you for what you have done! ¹³ 

Joel 1:13

1:13 Get dressed ¹⁴  and lament, you priests!

Wail, you who minister at the altar!

Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God,

because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings

to the temple of your God anymore. ¹⁵ 

Joel 2:7

2:7 They ¹⁶  charge ¹⁷  like warriors;

they scale walls like soldiers. ¹⁸ 

Each one proceeds on his course;

they do not alter ¹⁹  their path.

Joel 3:11

3:11 Lend your aid ²⁰  and come,

all you surrounding nations,

and gather yourselves ²¹  to that place.”

Bring down, O Lord, your warriors! ²² 

Joel 3:18

3:18 On that day ²³  the mountains will drip with sweet wine, ²⁴ 

and the hills will flow with milk. ²⁵ 

All the dry stream beds ²⁶  of Judah will flow with water.

A spring will flow out from the temple ²⁷  of the Lord,

watering the Valley of Acacia Trees. ²⁸ 

Joel 3:12

3:12 Let the nations be roused and let them go up

to the valley of Jehoshaphat,

for there I will sit in judgment on all the surrounding nations.

Joel 1:14

1:14 Announce a holy fast; ²⁹ 

proclaim a sacred assembly.

Gather the elders and ³⁰  all the inhabitants of the land

to the temple of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

Joel 2:5

2:5 They sound like ³¹  chariots rumbling ³²  over mountain tops,

like the crackling ³³  of blazing fire consuming stubble,

like the noise of ³⁴  a mighty army ³⁵  being drawn up for battle. ³⁶ 

Joel 2:19

2:19 The Lord responded ³⁷  to his people,

“Look! I am about to restore your grain ³⁸ 

as well as fresh wine and olive oil.

You will be fully satisfied. ³⁹ 

I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.

Joel 3:17

The Lord’s Presence in Zion

3:17 You will be convinced ⁴⁰  that I the Lord am your God,

dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain.

Jerusalem ⁴¹  will be holy –

conquering armies ⁴²  will no longer pass through it.

[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.

[3:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “send.”

[3:13]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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).

[2:16]  ¹¹ sn Mosaic law allowed men recently married, or about to be married, to be exempt for a year from certain duties that were normally mandatory, such as military obligation (cf. Deut 20:7; 24:5). However, Joel pictures a time of such urgency that normal expectations must give way to higher requirements.

[2:15]  ¹⁶ tn See the note on this term in 2:1.

[2:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “dart about in.”

[2:9]  ²² tn Or “they run upon its wall.”

[3:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I will return your recompense on your head.”

[1:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “put on.” There is no object present in the Hebrew text, but many translations assume “sackcloth” to be the understood object of the verb “put on.” Its absence in the Hebrew text of v. 13 is probably due to metrical considerations. The meter here is 3 + 3, and that has probably influenced the prophet’s choice of words.

[1:13]  ³² tn Heb “for grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.”

[2:7]  ³⁶ sn Since the invaders are compared to warriors, this suggests that they are not actually human, but instead an army of locusts.

[2:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “run.”

[2:7]  ³⁸ tn Heb “men of battle.”

[2:7]  ³⁹ tc The translation reads יְעַבְּתוּן (yÿ’abbÿtun) for MT יְעַבְּטוּן (yÿ’abbÿtun). The verb found in MT (עָבַט, ’avat) means “take or give a pledge” (cf. Deut 15:6, 8; 24:10) and does not fit the context. Some scholars have proposed various emendations: (1) יְעָוְּתוּן (yÿ’avvÿtun, “they make crooked”); (2) יָטּוּן (yattun, “they turn aside”); (3) יָעַוּוּן (ya’avvun, “they err”); and (4) יְעָבְּתוּן (adopted in the present translation) from the root I עָבַת (’avat, “to twist, pervert”) or II עָבַת (’avat, “to change, abandon”). KBL adopt the latter option, but the only biblical evidence for this is the problematic reference in Joel 2:7. Another option is to view it as a variant of the root חבט (khavat, “turn aside from”), a meaning attested for the Arabic cognate. The difference in spelling would be due to the interchange of the guttural letters khet (ח) and ayin (ע). This may lay behind LXX rendering ἐκκλίνωσιν (ekklinwsin; cf. Syriac Peshitta nstwn and Vg declinabunt). See S. F. Whitley, “‘bt in Joel 2, 7,” Bib 65 (1984): 101-2.

[3:11]  ⁴¹ tn This Hebrew verb is found only here in the OT; its meaning is uncertain. Some scholars prefer to read here עוּרוּ (’uru, “arouse”) or חוּשׁוּ (khushu, “hasten”).

[3:11]  ⁴² tc The present translation follows the reading of the imperative הִקָּבְצוּ (hiqqavÿtsu) rather than the perfect with vav (ו) consecutive וְנִקְבָּצוּ (vÿniqbbatsu) of the MT.

[3:11]  ⁴³ tc Some commentators prefer to delete the line “Bring down, O Lord, your warriors,” understanding it to be a later addition. But this is unnecessary. Contrary to what some have suggested, a prayer for the Lord’s intervention is not out of place here.

[3:18]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and it will come about in that day.”

[3:18]  ⁴⁷ tn Many English translations read “new wine” or “sweet wine,” meaning unfermented wine, i.e., grape juice.

[3:18]  ⁴⁸ sn The language used here is a hyperbolic way of describing both a bountiful grape harvest (“the mountains will drip with juice”) and an abundance of cattle (“the hills will flow with milk”). In addition to being hyperbolic, the language is also metonymical (effect for cause).

[3:18]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “seasonal streams.”

[3:18]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “house.”

[3:18]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “valley of Shittim.” The exact location of the Valley of Acacia Trees is uncertain. The Hebrew word שִׁטִּים (shittim) refers to a place where the acacia trees grow, which would be a very arid and dry place. The acacia tree can survive in such locations, whereas most other trees require more advantageous conditions. Joel’s point is that the stream that has been mentioned will proceed to the most dry and barren of locations in the vicinity of Jerusalem.

[1:14]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “consecrate a fast” (so NASB).

[1:14]  ⁵² tc The conjunction “and” does not appear in MT or LXX, but does appear in some Qumran texts (4QXII^c and 4QXII^g).

[2:5]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “like the sound of.”

[2:5]  ⁵⁷ 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]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “sound.”

[2:5]  ⁵⁹ 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]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “people.”

[2:5]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “being arrayed of battle.”

[2:19]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[2:19]  ⁶² tn Heb “Look! I am sending grain to you.” The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to suggest imminent action.

[2:19]  ⁶³ tc One of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXII^c) inserts “and you will eat” before “and you will be fully satisfied” (the reading of the MT, LXX).

[3:17]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “know.”

[3:17]  ⁶⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:17]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “strangers” or “foreigners.” In context, this refers to invasions by conquering armies.