Yoel 2:14

2:14 Who knows?

Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve, ¹ 

and leave blessing in his wake ²  –

a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the Lord your God! ³ 

Yoel 2:11

2:11 The voice of the Lord thunders ⁴  as he leads his army. ⁵ 

Indeed, his warriors ⁶  are innumerable; ⁷ 

Surely his command is carried out! ⁸ 

Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome ⁹ 

and very terrifying – who can survive ¹⁰  it?

Yoel 2:32

2:32 It will so happen that

everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. ¹¹ 

For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem ¹²  there will be those who survive, ¹³ 

just as the Lord has promised;

the remnant ¹⁴  will be those whom the Lord will call. ¹⁵ 

Yoel 3:3

3:3 and they cast lots for my people.

They traded ¹⁶  a boy for a prostitute;

they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink. ¹⁷ 

[2:14]  ¹ tn Heb “turn” or “turn back.”

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

[2:14]  ³ tn The phrase “for you to offer” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[2:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “the Lord gives his voice.”

[2:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “before his army.”

[2:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “military encampment.”

[2:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “very large.”

[2:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “he makes his word powerful.”

[2:11]  ⁹ tn Or “powerful.” Heb “great.”

[2:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “endure.” The MT and LXX read “endure,” while one of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXII^c) has “bear.”

[2:32]  ¹¹ tn While a number of English versions render this as “saved” (e.g., NIV, NRSV, NLT), this can suggest a “spiritual” or “theological” salvation rather than the physical deliverance from the cataclysmic events of the day of the Lord described in the context.

[2:32]  ¹² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:32]  ¹³ tn Heb “deliverance”; or “escape.” The abstract noun “deliverance” or “escape” probably functions here as an example of antimeria, referring to those who experience deliverance or escape with their lives: “escaped remnant” or “surviving remnant” (Gen 32:8; 45:7; Judg 21:17; 2 Kgs 19:30, 31; Isa 4:2; 10:20; 15:9; 37:31, 32; Ezek 14:22; Obad 1:17; Ezra 9:8, 13-15; Neh 1:2; 1 Chr 4:43; 2 Chr 30:6).

[2:32]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and among the remnant.”

[2:32]  ¹⁵ tn The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to indicate action in the imminent future.

[3:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “gave.”

[3:3]  ¹⁷ sn Heb “and they drank.” Joel vividly refers to a situation where innocent human life has little value; its only worth is its use in somehow satisfying selfish appetites of wicked people who have control over others (cf. Amos 2:6 and 8:6).