Yoel 3:5-7

3:5 For you took my silver and my gold

and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces. ¹ 

3:6 You sold Judeans and Jerusalemites to the Greeks,

removing them far from their own country. ² 

3:7 Look! I am rousing them from that place to which you sold them.

I will repay you for what you have done! ³ 

Yoel 3:11

3:11 Lend your aid ⁴  and come,

all you surrounding nations,

and gather yourselves ⁵  to that place.”

Bring down, O Lord, your warriors! ⁶ 

Yoel 3:2

3:2 Then I will gather all the nations,

and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. ⁷ 

I will enter into judgment ⁸  against them there

concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance, ⁹ 

whom they scattered among the nations.

They partitioned my land,

Yoel 2:16

2:16 Gather the people;

sanctify an assembly!

Gather the elders;

gather the children and the nursing infants.

Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom

and the bride from her private quarters. ¹⁰ 

Yoel 1:13

1:13 Get dressed ¹¹  and lament, you priests!

Wail, you who minister at the altar!

Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God,

because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings

to the temple of your God anymore. ¹² 

Yoel 2:20

2:20 I will remove the one from the north ¹³  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, ¹⁴ 

and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea. ¹⁵ 

His stench will rise up as a foul smell.” ¹⁶ 

Indeed, the Lord ¹⁷  has accomplished great things.

[3:5]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “temples.”

[3:6]  ² tn Heb “border.”

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

[3:11]  ⁴ tn This Hebrew verb is found only here in the OT; its meaning is uncertain. Some scholars prefer to read here עוּרוּ (’uru, “arouse”) or חוּשׁוּ (khushu, “hasten”).

[3:11]  ⁵ tc The present translation follows the reading of the imperative הִקָּבְצוּ (hiqqavÿtsu) rather than the perfect with vav (ו) consecutive וְנִקְבָּצוּ (vÿniqbbatsu) of the MT.

[3:11]  ⁶ tc Some commentators prefer to delete the line “Bring down, O Lord, your warriors,” understanding it to be a later addition. But this is unnecessary. Contrary to what some have suggested, a prayer for the Lord’s intervention is not out of place here.

[3:2]  ⁷ sn There is a play on words here. Jehoshaphat in Hebrew means “the Lord has judged,” and the next line in v. 2 further explicates this thought. The location of this valley is uncertain (cf. v. 12). Many interpreters have understood the Valley of Jehoshaphat to be the Kidron Valley, located on the east side of old Jerusalem. Since this is described as a scene of future messianic activity and judgment, many Jews and Muslims have desired to be buried in the vicinity, a fact attested to in modern times by the presence of many graves in the area. A variation of this view is mentioned by Eusebius, Onomasticon 1:10. According to this view, the Valley of Jehoshaphat is located in the Hinnom Valley, on the south side of the old city. Yet another view is held by many modern scholars, who understand the reference to this valley to be one of an idealized and nonliteral scene of judgment.

[3:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will execute judgment.”

[3:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “concerning my people and my inheritance Israel.”

[2:16]  ¹⁰ sn Mosaic law allowed men recently married, or about to be married, to be exempt for a year from certain duties that were normally mandatory, such as military obligation (cf. Deut 20:7; 24:5). However, Joel pictures a time of such urgency that normal expectations must give way to higher requirements.

[1:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “put on.” There is no object present in the Hebrew text, but many translations assume “sackcloth” to be the understood object of the verb “put on.” Its absence in the Hebrew text of v. 13 is probably due to metrical considerations. The meter here is 3 + 3, and that has probably influenced the prophet’s choice of words.

[1:13]  ¹² tn Heb “for grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.”

[2:20]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “his face to the eastern sea.” In this context the eastern sea is probably the Dead Sea.

[2:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and his rear to the western sea.” The western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea.

[2:20]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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.