Joel 3:13

3:13 Rush forth with ¹  the sickle, for the harvest is ripe!

Come, stomp the grapes, ²  for the winepress is full!

The vats overflow.

Indeed, their evil is great! ³ 

Joel 3:18

3:18 On that day ⁴  the mountains will drip with sweet wine, ⁵ 

and the hills will flow with milk. ⁶ 

All the dry stream beds ⁷  of Judah will flow with water.

A spring will flow out from the temple ⁸  of the Lord,

watering the Valley of Acacia Trees. ⁹ 

[3:13]  ¹ tn Heb “send.”

[3:13]  ² 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]  ³ 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).

[3:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “and it will come about in that day.”

[3:18]  ⁵ tn Many English translations read “new wine” or “sweet wine,” meaning unfermented wine, i.e., grape juice.

[3:18]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Or “seasonal streams.”

[3:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[3:18]  ⁹ 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.