Joel 3:10

3:10 Beat your plowshares ¹  into swords,

and your pruning hooks ²  into spears! ³ 

Let the weak say, ‘I too am a warrior!’ ⁴ 

Joel 2:20

2:20 I will remove the one from the north ⁵  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, ⁶ 

and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea. ⁷ 

His stench will rise up as a foul smell.” ⁸ 

Indeed, the Lord ⁹  has accomplished great things.

Joel 2:31

2:31 The sunlight will be turned to darkness

and the moon to the color of blood, ¹⁰ 

before the day of the Lord comes –

that great and terrible day!

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 3:5

3:5 For you took my silver and my gold

and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces. ¹³ 

Joel 3:8

3:8 I will sell your sons and daughters to ¹⁴  the people of Judah. ¹⁵ 

They will sell them to the Sabeans, ¹⁶  a nation far away.

Indeed, the Lord has spoken!

Joel 3:2

3:2 Then I will gather all the nations,

and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. ¹⁷ 

I will enter into judgment ¹⁸  against them there

concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance, ¹⁹ 

whom they scattered among the nations.

They partitioned my land,

Joel 1:14

1:14 Announce a holy fast; ²⁰ 

proclaim a sacred assembly.

Gather the elders and ²¹  all the inhabitants of the land

to the temple of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

Joel 1:7

1:7 They ²²  have destroyed our ²³  vines; ²⁴ 

they have turned our ²⁵  fig trees into mere splinters.

They have completely stripped off the bark ²⁶  and thrown them aside;

the ²⁷  twigs are stripped bare. 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 2:5

2:5 They sound like ²⁹  chariots rumbling ³⁰  over mountain tops,

like the crackling ³¹  of blazing fire consuming stubble,

like the noise of ³²  a mighty army ³³  being drawn up for battle. ³⁴ 

Joel 3:17

The Lord’s Presence in Zion

3:17 You will be convinced ³⁵  that I the Lord am your God,

dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain.

Jerusalem ³⁶  will be holy –

conquering armies ³⁷  will no longer pass through it.

[3:10]  ¹ sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.

[3:10]  ² sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle.

[3:10]  ³ sn This conversion of farming instruments to instruments of war is the reverse of Isa 2:4 (cf. Mic 4:3), where military weapons are transformed into tools for farming. Isaiah describes a time of kingdom blessing and prosperity, whereas Joel describes a time of eschatological conflict and judgment.

[3:10]  ⁴ sn The “weak” individual mentioned here is apparently the farmer who has little or no military prowess or prior fighting experience. Under ordinary circumstances such a person would be ill-prepared for assuming the role of a soldier. However, in the scene that Joel is describing here even the most unlikely candidate will become a participant to be reckoned with in this final conflict.

[2:20]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “his face to the eastern sea.” In this context the eastern sea is probably the Dead Sea.

[2:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “and his rear to the western sea.” The western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea.

[2:20]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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.

[2:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “to blood,” but no doubt this is intended to indicate by metonymy the color of blood rather than the substance itself. The blood red color suggests a visual impression here – something that could be caused by fires, volcanic dust, sandstorms, or other atmospheric phenomena.

[2:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “dart about in.”

[2:9]  ¹⁴ tn Or “they run upon its wall.”

[3:5]  ¹⁷ tn Or perhaps, “temples.”

[3:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “into the hand of.”

[3:8]  ²² tn Heb “the sons of Judah.”

[3:8]  ²³ sn The Sabeans were Arabian merchants who were influential along the ancient caravan routes that traveled through Arabia. See also Job 1:15; Isa 43:3; 45:14; Ps 72:10.

[3:2]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I will execute judgment.”

[3:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “concerning my people and my inheritance Israel.”

[1:14]  ²⁹ tn Heb “consecrate a fast” (so NASB).

[1:14]  ³⁰ tc The conjunction “and” does not appear in MT or LXX, but does appear in some Qumran texts (4QXII^c and 4QXII^g).

[1:7]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ tn Heb “my.”

[1:7]  ³⁵ tn Both “vines” and “fig trees” are singular in the Hebrew text, but are regarded as collective singulars.

[1:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “my.”

[1:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “it has completely stripped her.”

[1:7]  ³⁸ tn Heb “her.”

[1:7]  ³⁹ tn Heb “grow white.”

[2:5]  ³⁷ tn Heb “like the sound of.”

[2:5]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ tn Heb “sound.”

[2:5]  ⁴⁰ 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]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “people.”

[2:5]  ⁴² tn Heb “being arrayed of battle.”

[3:17]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “know.”

[3:17]  ⁴² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:17]  ⁴³ tn Heb “strangers” or “foreigners.” In context, this refers to invasions by conquering armies.