Psalms 85:1-2

Psalm 85 ¹ 

For the music director; written by the Korahites, a psalm.

85:1 O Lord, you showed favor to your land;

you restored the well-being of Jacob. ² 

85:2 You pardoned ³  the wrongdoing of your people;

you forgave ⁴  all their sin. (Selah)

Psalms 136:23

136:23 to the one who remembered us when we were down, ⁵ 

for his loyal love endures,

Ezekiel 36:1-15

Blessings on the Mountains of Israel

36:1 “As for you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say: ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord! 36:2 This is what the sovereign Lord says: The enemy has spoken against you, saying “Aha!” and, “The ancient heights ⁶  have become our property!”’ 36:3 So prophesy and say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Surely because they have made you desolate and crushed you from all directions, so that you have become the property of the rest of the nations, and have become the subject of gossip ⁷  and slander among the people, 36:4 therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the sovereign Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, and to the desolate ruins and the abandoned cities that have become prey and an object of derision to the rest of the nations round about – 36:5 therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Surely I have spoken in the fire of my zeal against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who with great joy and utter contempt have made my land their property and prey, because of its pasture.’

36:6 “Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I have spoken in my zeal and in my anger, because you have endured the insults of the nations. 36:7 So this is what the sovereign Lord says: I vow ⁸  that the nations around you will endure insults as well.

36:8 “‘But you, mountains of Israel, will grow your branches, and bear your fruit for my people Israel; for they will arrive soon. ⁹  36:9 For indeed, I am on your side; ¹⁰  I will turn to you, and you will be plowed and planted. 36:10 I will multiply your people ¹¹  – the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities will be populated and the ruins rebuilt. 36:11 I will increase the number of people and animals on you; they will increase and be fruitful. ¹²  I will cause you to be inhabited as in ancient times, and will do more good for you than at the beginning of your history. ¹³  Then you will know that I am the Lord. 36:12 I will lead people, my people Israel, across you; they will possess you and you will become their inheritance. No longer will you bereave them of their children.

36:13 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because they are saying to you, “You are a devourer of men, and bereave your nation of children,” 36:14 therefore you will no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the sovereign Lord. 36:15 I will no longer subject you to ¹⁴  the nations’ insults; no longer will you bear the shame of the peoples, and no longer will you bereave ¹⁵  your nation, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Ezekiel 36:33-34

36:33 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: In the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will populate the cities and the ruins will be rebuilt. 36:34 The desolate land will be plowed, instead of being desolate in the sight of everyone who passes by.

Joel 2:18

The Lord’s Response

2:18 Then the Lord became ¹⁶  zealous for his land;

he had compassion on his people.

[85:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 85. God’s people recall how he forgave their sins in the past, pray that he might now restore them to his favor, and anticipate renewed blessings.

[85:1]  ² tn Heb “you turned with a turning [toward] Jacob.” The Hebrew term שְׁבוּת (shÿvut) is apparently a cognate accusative of שׁוּב (shuv). See Pss 14:7; 53:6.

[85:2]  ³ tn Heb “lifted up.”

[85:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “covered over.”

[136:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “who, in our low condition, remembered us.”

[36:2]  ⁶ tn Or “high places.”

[36:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “lip of the tongue.”

[36:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

[36:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “they draw near to arrive.”

[36:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I (am) toward you.”

[36:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will multiply on you human(s).”

[36:11]  ¹² sn These verbs occur together in Gen 1:22, 28; 9:1.

[36:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “your beginning.”

[36:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “cause you to hear.”

[36:15]  ¹⁵ tc The MT reads תַכְשִׁלִי (takhshiliy), a metathesis for תַשְׁכִלִי (tashkhiliy) from the root שָׁכַל (shakhal) which is used in each of the previous verses.

[2:18]  ¹⁶ tn The time-frame entertained by the verbs of v.18 constitutes a crux interpretum in this chapter. The Hebrew verb forms used here are preterites with vav consecutive and are most naturally understood as describing a past situation. However, some modern English versions render these verbs as futures (e.g., NIV, NASV), apparently concluding that the context requires a future reference. According to Joüon 2:363 §112.h, n.1 Ibn Ezra explained the verbs of Joel 2:18 as an extension of the so-called prophetic perfect; as such, a future fulfillment was described with a past tense as a rhetorical device lending certainty to the fulfillment. But this lacks adequate precedent and is very unlikely from a syntactical standpoint. It seems better to take the verbs in the normal past sense of the preterite. This would require a vantage point for the prophet at some time after the people had responded favorably to the Lord’s call for repentance and after the Lord had shown compassion and forgiveness toward his people, but before the full realization of God’s promises to restore productivity to the land. In other words, it appears from the verbs of vv. 18-19 that at the time of Joel’s writing this book the events of successive waves of locust invasion and conditions of drought had almost run their course and the people had now begun to turn to the Lord.