Yoel 3:15

3:15 The sun and moon are darkened;

the stars withhold ¹  their brightness.

Yoel 3:7

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

I will repay you for what you have done! ² 

Yoel 3:4

3:4 Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon? ³ 

Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia? ⁴ 

I will very quickly repay you for what you have done! ⁵ 

Yoel 2:14

2:14 Who knows?

Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve, ⁶ 

and leave blessing in his wake ⁷  –

a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the Lord your God! ⁸ 

Yoel 2:10

2:10 The earth quakes ⁹  before them; ¹⁰ 

the sky reverberates. ¹¹ 

The sun and the moon grow dark;

the stars refuse to shine. ¹² 

Yoel 3:1

The Lord Plans to Judge the Nations

3:1 (4:1) ¹³  For look! In those ¹⁴  days and at that time

I will return the exiles ¹⁵  to Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁶ 

Yoel 2:12-13

An Appeal for Repentance

2:12 “Yet even now,” the Lord says,

“return to me with all your heart –

with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

Tear your hearts, ¹⁷ 

not just your garments!”

2:13 Return to the Lord your God,

for he is merciful and compassionate,

slow to anger and boundless in loyal love ¹⁸  – often relenting from calamitous punishment. ¹⁹ 

Yoel 2:22

2:22 Do not fear, wild animals! ²⁰ 

For the pastures of the wilderness are again green with grass.

Indeed, the trees bear their fruit;

the fig tree and the vine yield to their fullest. ²¹ 

Yoel 2:25

2:25 I will make up for the years ²² 

that the ‘arbeh-locust ²³  consumed your crops ²⁴  –

the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust –

my great army ²⁵  that I sent against you.

Yoel 2:19-20

2:19 The Lord responded ²⁶  to his people,

“Look! I am about to restore your grain ²⁷ 

as well as fresh wine and olive oil.

You will be fully satisfied. ²⁸ 

I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.

2:20 I will remove the one from the north ²⁹  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, ³⁰ 

and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea. ³¹ 

His stench will rise up as a foul smell.” ³² 

Indeed, the Lord ³³  has accomplished great things.

[3:15]  ¹ tn Heb “gather in.”

[3:7]  ² tn Heb “I will return your recompense on your head.”

[3:4]  ³ tn Heb “What [are] you [doing] to me, O Tyre and Sidon?”

[3:4]  ⁴ tn Or “districts.”

[3:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “quickly, speedily, I will return your recompense on your head.” This is an idiom for retributive justice and an equitable reversal of situation.

[2:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “turn” or “turn back.”

[2:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “leave a blessing behind him.”

[2:14]  ⁸ tn The phrase “for you to offer” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[2:10]  ⁹ sn Witnesses of locust invasions have described the visual effect of large numbers of these creatures crawling over one another on the ground. At such times the ground is said to appear to be in motion, creating a dizzying effect on some observers. The reference in v. 10 to the darkening of the sun and moon probably has to do with the obscuring of visibility due to large numbers of locusts swarming in the sky.

[2:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “before it.”

[2:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “trembles.”

[2:10]  ¹² tn Heb “gather their brightness.”

[3:1]  ¹³ sn Joel 3:1 in the English Bible is 4:1 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See also the note at 2:28.

[3:1]  ¹⁴ tc The MT and LXX read “in those days,” while MurXII reads “in that day.”

[3:1]  ¹⁵ tc The Kethib reads אָשִׁיב (’ashiv, “return the captivity [captives]), while the Qere is אָשׁוּב (’ashuv, “restore the fortunes”). Many modern English versions follow the Qere reading. Either reading seems to fit the context. Joel refers to an exile of the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem in 3:2-6 and their return from exile in 3:7. On the other hand, 2:25-26 describes the reversal of judgment and restoration of the covenant blessings. However, the former seems to be the concern of the immediate context.

[3:1]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:12]  ¹⁷ sn The figurative language calls for genuine repentance, and not merely external ritual that goes through the motions.

[2:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and great of loyal love.”

[2:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he relents from calamity.”

[2:22]  ²⁰ tn Heb “beasts of the field.”

[2:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “their strength.” The trees and vines will produce a maximum harvest, in contrast to the failed agricultural conditions previously described.

[2:25]  ²² tn Heb “I will restore to you the years.”

[2:25]  sn The plural years suggests that the plague to which Joel refers was not limited to a single season. Apparently the locusts were a major problem over several successive years. One season of drought and locust invasion would have been bad enough. Several such years would have been devastating.

[2:25]  ²³ sn The same four terms for locust are used here as in 1:4, but in a different order. This fact creates some difficulty for the notion that the four words refer to four distinct stages of locust development.

[2:25]  ²⁴ tn The term “your crops” does not appear in the Hebrew, but has been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[2:25]  ²⁵ sn Here Joel employs military language to describe the locusts. In the prophet’s thinking this invasion was far from being a freak accident. Rather, the Lord is pictured here as a divine warrior who leads his army into the land as a punishment for past sin and as a means of bringing about spiritual renewal on the part of the people.

[2:19]  ²⁶ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[2:19]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Look! I am sending grain to you.” The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to suggest imminent action.

[2:19]  ²⁸ tc One of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXII^c) inserts “and you will eat” before “and you will be fully satisfied” (the reading of the MT, LXX).

[2:20]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ tn Heb “his face to the eastern sea.” In this context the eastern sea is probably the Dead Sea.

[2:20]  ³¹ tn Heb “and his rear to the western sea.” The western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea.

[2:20]  ³² 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]  ³³ 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.