Joel 3:20

3:20 But Judah will reside securely forever,

and Jerusalem will be secure ¹  from one generation to the next.

Joel 3:16

3:16 The Lord roars from Zion;

from Jerusalem ²  his voice bellows out. ³ 

The heavens ⁴  and the earth shake.

But the Lord is a refuge for his people;

he is a stronghold for the citizens ⁵  of Israel.

Joel 2:3

2:3 Like fire they devour everything in their path; ⁶ 

a flame blazes behind them.

The land looks like the Garden of Eden ⁷  before them,

but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness –

for nothing escapes them! ⁸ 

Joel 2:20

2:20 I will remove the one from the north ⁹  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, ¹⁰ 

and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea. ¹¹ 

His stench will rise up as a foul smell.” ¹² 

Indeed, the Lord ¹³  has accomplished great things.

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! ¹⁴ 

Joel 3:4

3:4 Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon? ¹⁵ 

Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia? ¹⁶ 

I will very quickly repay you for what you have done! ¹⁷ 

Joel 2:12

An Appeal for Repentance

2:12 “Yet even now,” the Lord says,

“return to me with all your heart –

with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

Tear your hearts, ¹⁸ 

not just your garments!”

Joel 3:19

3:19 Egypt will be desolate

and Edom will be a desolate wilderness,

because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, ¹⁹ 

in whose land they shed innocent blood.

Joel 2:14

2:14 Who knows?

Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve, ²⁰ 

and leave blessing in his wake ²¹  –

a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the Lord your God! ²² 

[3:20]  ¹ tn The phrase “will be secure” does not appear in the Hebrew, but are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.

[3:16]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:16]  ³ tn Heb “he sounds forth his voice.”

[3:16]  ⁴ tn Or “the sky.” See the note on “sky” in 2:30.

[3:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “sons.”

[2:3]  ³ tn Heb “a fire devours before it.”

[2:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “like the garden of Eden, the land is before them.”

[2:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and surely a survivor there is not for it.” The antecedent of the pronoun “it” is apparently עַם (’am, “people”) of v. 2, which seems to be a figurative way of referring to the locusts. K&D 26:191-92 thought that the antecedent of this pronoun was “land,” but the masculine gender of the pronoun does not support this.

[2:20]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “his face to the eastern sea.” In this context the eastern sea is probably the Dead Sea.

[2:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “and his rear to the western sea.” The western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea.

[2:20]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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.

[3:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will return your recompense on your head.”

[3:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “What [are] you [doing] to me, O Tyre and Sidon?”

[3:4]  ⁷ tn Or “districts.”

[3:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “quickly, speedily, I will return your recompense on your head.” This is an idiom for retributive justice and an equitable reversal of situation.

[2:12]  ⁷ sn The figurative language calls for genuine repentance, and not merely external ritual that goes through the motions.

[3:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “violence of the sons of Judah.” The phrase “of the sons of Judah” is an objective genitive (cf. KJV “the violence against the children of Judah”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “violence done to the people of Judah”). It refers to injustices committed against the Judeans, not violence that the Judeans themselves had committed against others.

[2:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “turn” or “turn back.”

[2:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “leave a blessing behind him.”

[2:14]  ¹¹ tn The phrase “for you to offer” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.