Yoel 1:18-20

1:18 Listen to the cattle groan! ¹ 

The herds of livestock wander around in confusion ² 

because they have no pasture.

Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

1:19 To you, O Lord, I call out for help, ³ 

for fire ⁴  has burned up ⁵  the grassy pastures, ⁶ 

flames have razed ⁷  all the trees in the fields.

1:20 Even the wild animals ⁸  cry out to you; ⁹ 

for the river beds ¹⁰  have dried up;

fire has destroyed ¹¹  the grassy pastures. ¹² 

Yoel 2:7

2:7 They ¹³  charge ¹⁴  like warriors;

they scale walls like soldiers. ¹⁵ 

Each one proceeds on his course;

they do not alter ¹⁶  their path.

Yoel 2:14

2:14 Who knows?

Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve, ¹⁷ 

and leave blessing in his wake ¹⁸  –

a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the Lord your God! ¹⁹ 

Yoel 3:5

3:5 For you took my silver and my gold

and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces. ²⁰ 

Yoel 3:9-10

Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat

3:9 Proclaim this among the nations:

“Prepare for a holy war!

Call out the warriors!

Let all these fighting men approach and attack! ²¹ 

3:10 Beat your plowshares ²²  into swords,

and your pruning hooks ²³  into spears! ²⁴ 

Let the weak say, ‘I too am a warrior!’ ²⁵ 

[1:18]  ¹ tn Heb “how the cattle groan!”

[1:18]  ² tn Heb “the herds of cattle are confused.” The verb בּוּךְ (bukh, “be confused”) sometimes refers to wandering aimlessly in confusion (cf. Exod 14:3).

[1:19]  ³ tn The phrase “for help” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[1:19]  ⁴ sn Fire here and in v. 20 is probably not to be understood in a literal sense. The locust plague, accompanied by conditions of extreme drought, has left the countryside looking as though everything has been burned up (so also in Joel 2:3).

[1:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “consumed.” This entire line is restated at the end of v. 20.

[1:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “the pastures of the wilderness.”

[1:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “a flame has set ablaze.” This fire was one of the effects of the drought.

[1:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “beasts of the field.”

[1:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “long for you.” Animals of course do not have religious sensibilities as such; they do not in any literal sense long for Yahweh. Rather, the language here is figurative (metonymy of cause for effect). The animals long for food and water (so BDB 788 s.v. עָרַג), the ultimate source of which is Yahweh.

[1:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “sources of water.”

[1:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “consumed.”

[1:20]  ¹² tn Heb “the pastures of the wilderness.”

[2:7]  ¹³ sn Since the invaders are compared to warriors, this suggests that they are not actually human, but instead an army of locusts.

[2:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “run.”

[2:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “men of battle.”

[2:7]  ¹⁶ tc The translation reads יְעַבְּתוּן (yÿ’abbÿtun) for MT יְעַבְּטוּן (yÿ’abbÿtun). The verb found in MT (עָבַט, ’avat) means “take or give a pledge” (cf. Deut 15:6, 8; 24:10) and does not fit the context. Some scholars have proposed various emendations: (1) יְעָוְּתוּן (yÿ’avvÿtun, “they make crooked”); (2) יָטּוּן (yattun, “they turn aside”); (3) יָעַוּוּן (ya’avvun, “they err”); and (4) יְעָבְּתוּן (adopted in the present translation) from the root I עָבַת (’avat, “to twist, pervert”) or II עָבַת (’avat, “to change, abandon”). KBL adopt the latter option, but the only biblical evidence for this is the problematic reference in Joel 2:7. Another option is to view it as a variant of the root חבט (khavat, “turn aside from”), a meaning attested for the Arabic cognate. The difference in spelling would be due to the interchange of the guttural letters khet (ח) and ayin (ע). This may lay behind LXX rendering ἐκκλίνωσιν (ekklinwsin; cf. Syriac Peshitta nstwn and Vg declinabunt). See S. F. Whitley, “‘bt in Joel 2, 7,” Bib 65 (1984): 101-2.

[2:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “turn” or “turn back.”

[2:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “leave a blessing behind him.”

[2:14]  ¹⁹ tn The phrase “for you to offer” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[3:5]  ²⁰ tn Or perhaps, “temples.”

[3:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “draw near and go up.”

[3:10]  ²² sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.

[3:10]  ²³ sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle.

[3:10]  ²⁴ sn This conversion of farming instruments to instruments of war is the reverse of Isa 2:4 (cf. Mic 4:3), where military weapons are transformed into tools for farming. Isaiah describes a time of kingdom blessing and prosperity, whereas Joel describes a time of eschatological conflict and judgment.

[3:10]  ²⁵ sn The “weak” individual mentioned here is apparently the farmer who has little or no military prowess or prior fighting experience. Under ordinary circumstances such a person would be ill-prepared for assuming the role of a soldier. However, in the scene that Joel is describing here even the most unlikely candidate will become a participant to be reckoned with in this final conflict.