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! ¹ 

Joel 2:5

2:5 They sound like ²  chariots rumbling ³  over mountain tops,

like the crackling ⁴  of blazing fire consuming stubble,

like the noise of ⁵  a mighty army ⁶  being drawn up for battle. ⁷ 

Joel 3:4

3:4 Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon? ⁸ 

Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia? ⁹ 

I will very quickly repay you for what you have done! ¹⁰ 

[3:7]  ¹ tn Heb “I will return your recompense on your head.”

[2:5]  ² tn Heb “like the sound of.”

[2:5]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “sound.”

[2:5]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “people.”

[2:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “being arrayed of battle.”

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

[3:4]  ⁴ tn Or “districts.”

[3:4]  ⁵ 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.