Joel 2:7

2:7 They ¹  charge ²  like warriors;

they scale walls like soldiers. ³ 

Each one proceeds on his course;

they do not alter ⁴  their path.

Joel 2:9

2:9 They rush into ⁵  the city;

they scale ⁶  its walls.

They climb up into the houses;

they go in through the windows like a thief.

Joel 3:9

Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat

3:9 Proclaim this among the nations:

“Prepare for a holy war!

Call out the warriors!

Let all these fighting men approach and attack! ⁷ 

Joel 2:20

2:20 I will remove the one from the north ⁸  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, ⁹ 

and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea. ¹⁰ 

His stench will rise up as a foul smell.” ¹¹ 

Indeed, the Lord ¹²  has accomplished great things.

Joel 1:6

1:6 For a nation ¹³  has invaded ¹⁴  our ¹⁵  land.

There are so many of them they are too numerous to count. ¹⁶ 

Their teeth are like those ¹⁷  of a lion;

they tear apart their prey like a lioness. ¹⁸ 

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.

[2:7]  ¹ sn Since the invaders are compared to warriors, this suggests that they are not actually human, but instead an army of locusts.

[2:7]  ² tn Heb “run.”

[2:7]  ³ tn Heb “men of battle.”

[2:7]  ⁴ 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.

[2:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “dart about in.”

[2:9]  ⁶ tn Or “they run upon its wall.”

[3:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “draw near and go up.”

[2:20]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “his face to the eastern sea.” In this context the eastern sea is probably the Dead Sea.

[2:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and his rear to the western sea.” The western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea.

[2:20]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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.

[1:6]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “has come up against.”

[1:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “my.”

[1:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “[It] is huge and there is not number.”

[1:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “its teeth are the teeth of a lion.”

[1:6]  ²² 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.”