Psalms 71:18

71:18 Even when I am old and gray, ¹ 

O God, do not abandon me,

until I tell the next generation about your strength,

and those coming after me about your power. ² 

Psalms 78:4

78:4 we will not hide from their ³  descendants.

We will tell the next generation

about the Lord’s praiseworthy acts, ⁴ 

about his strength and the amazing things he has done.

Deuteronomy 11:19

11:19 Teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, ⁵  as you lie down, and as you get up.

Joel 1:3

1:3 Tell your children ⁶  about it,

have your children tell their children,

and their children the following generation. ⁷ 

[71:18]  ¹ tn Heb “and even unto old age and gray hair.”

[71:18]  ² tn Heb “until I declare your arm to a generation, to everyone who comes your power.” God’s “arm” here is an anthropomorphism that symbolizes his great strength.

[78:4]  ³ tn The pronominal suffix refers back to the “fathers” (“our ancestors,” v. 3).

[78:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “to a following generation telling the praises of the Lord.” “Praises” stand by metonymy for the mighty acts that prompt worship. Cf. Ps 9:14.

[11:19]  ⁵ tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”

[1:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “sons.” This word occurs several times in this verse.

[1:3]  ⁷ sn The circumstances that precipitated the book of Joel surrounded a locust invasion in Palestine that was of unprecedented proportions. The locusts had devastated the country’s agrarian economy, with the unwelcome consequences extending to every important aspect of commercial, religious, and national life. To further complicate matters, a severe drought had exhausted water supplies, causing life-threatening shortages for animal and human life (cf. v. 20). Locust invasions occasionally present significant problems in Palestine in modern times. The year 1865 was commonly known among Arabic-speaking peoples of the Near East as sent el jarad, “year of the locust.” The years 1892, 1899, and 1904 witnessed significant locust invasions in Palestine. But in modern times there has been nothing equal in magnitude to the great locust invasion that began in Palestine in February of 1915. This modern parallel provides valuable insight into the locust plague the prophet Joel points to as a foreshadowing of the day of the Lord. For an eyewitness account of the 1915 locust invasion of Palestine see J. D. Whiting, “Jerusalem’s Locust Plague,” National Geographic 28 (December 1915): 511-50.