and let your children tell their children,
and their children another generation.
4What the cutting locust left,]
the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
the destroying locust has eaten.
5Wake up, you drunkards, and weep;]
and wail, all you wine-drinkers,
over the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6For a nation has invaded my land,
powerful and innumerable;
its teeth are lions’ teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7It has laid waste my vines,
and splintered my fig trees;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches have turned white.
8Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth
for the husband of her youth.
9The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the LORD.
The priests mourn,
the ministers of the LORD.
10The fields are devastated,
the ground mourns;
for the grain is destroyed,
the wine dries up,
the oil fails.
11Be dismayed, you farmers,
wail, you vinedressers,
over the wheat and the barley;
for the crops of the field are ruined.
12The vine withers,
the fig tree droops.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple—
all the trees of the field are dried up;
surely, joy withers away
among the people.
A Call to Repentance and Prayer
13Put on sackcloth and lament, you priests;
wail, you ministers of the altar.
Come, pass the night in sackcloth,
you ministers of my God!
Grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.
14Sanctify a fast,
call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the LORD your God,
and cry out to the LORD.
15Alas for the day!
For the day of the LORD is near,
and as destruction from the Almightya it comes.
16Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17The seed shrivels under the clods,b
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are ruined
because the grain has failed.
18How the animals groan!
The herds of cattle wander about
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep are dazed.c
19To you, O LORD, I cry.
For fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness,
and flames have burned
all the trees of the field.
20Even the wild animals cry to you
because the watercourses are dried up,
and fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.
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a Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
b Meaning of Heb uncertain
c Compare Gk Syr Vg: Meaning of Heb uncertain
1.1 The superscription simply identifies the following materials as a prophetic oracle from YHWH that came to the prophet Joel ben Pethuel. It provides neither further identification of the prophet nor any information concerning the historical background for Joel’s message.
1.2–2.14 The prophet calls for communal lamentation based on the impending threat of a plague of locusts that metaphorically describes an enemy invasion.
1.1–12 The prophet calls for the people to assemble in the Jerusalem temple to appeal to YHWH for deliverance from a locust plague, which threatens to destroy Judah’s crops and livelihood. The imagery of locusts draws heavily on the portrayal of the locust plague against Egypt in the exodus traditions (Ex 10.1–20), but this time the victims of the locusts are Judah and Jerusalem (cf. Am 7.1–3).
1.2–4 Opening, scene-setting verses, such as occur often in the prophetic books, call upon the people to hear; see Hos 4.1; Isa 1.2; Mic 1.2.
1.2 The prophet’s rhetorical question in v. 2b heightens the importance of the situation to his Judean audience, i.e., such a thing has never happened before.
1.4 Four kinds of locust symbolize four different invasions, according to some commentators. The type translated cutting locust appears also in Am 4.9, one of the many contacts between this presumably later book and Amos.
1.5–7 The prophet turns to the specific effects of the locust plague, i.e., the destruction of the grape crop and the wine it would produce. Grapes and wine were dietary staples in ancient Judah, together with grain and oil (Deut 14.23; 18.4). The threat to the grape harvest suggests that the setting for the prophet’s message is the festival of Sukkoth, “Booths” or “Tabernacles,” which commemorates the conclusion of the fruit harvest (Ex 23.16; 34.22; Lev 23.33–36; 39.44; Num 28.12–39; Deut 16.13–15).
1.8–10 Lament was often done in the ancient Near East by women (see Jer 9.17–22). In Ezek 8.14 women weep for Tammuz, a Babylonian god. In Jer 31.15 Rachel, no doubt an eponym for lamenting women, laments for the captured Israelites.
1.9 The invasion of the army (a nation, v. 6), both symbolic and actual, has caused the temple services to cease.
1.11–12 The prophet calls upon the farmers to be dismayed and to lament at the loss of their grain crops and fruit harvests.
1.13–20 A ritual lament that appeals for fasting and mourning on the day of the LORD (v. 15).
1.13–14 The lament is led by priests and includes the elders, indeed all the inhabitants, and calls for fasting, blowing the trumpet (2.1), and crying out to YHWH. Archaeology has recovered many prayers of lamentation from ancient Babylonia.
1.15 The day of the LORD is a major theme in Joel and an often used prophetic motif, very close to themes in, e.g., Am 5.18–20; Isa 2.11–22;13.6–19; Zeph 1.2–2.13.
JOEL 2
1Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near—
2a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful army comes;
their like has never been from of old,
nor will be again after them
in ages to come.
3Fire devours in front of them,
and behind them a flame burns.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
but after them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them.
4They have the appearance of horses,
and like war-horses they charge.
5As with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
drawn up for battle.
6Before them peoples are in anguish,
all faces grow pale.a
7Like warriors they charge,
like soldiers they scale the wall.
Each keeps to its own course,
they do not swerve fromb their paths.
8They do not jostle one another,
each keeps to its own track;
they burst through the weapons
and are not halted.
9They leap upon the city,
they run upon the walls;
they climb up into the houses,
they enter through the windows like a thief.
10The earth quakes before them,
the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
11The LORD utters his voice
at the head of his army;
how vast is his host!
Numberless are those who obey his command.
Truly the day of the LORD is great;
terrible indeed—who can endure it?
12Yet even now, says the LORD,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the LORD, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.
14Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the LORD, your God?
15Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16gather the people.
Sanctify the congregation;
assemble the aged;
gather the children,
even infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her canopy.
17Between the vestibule and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep.
Let them say, “Spare your people, OLORD,
and do not make your heritage a mockery,
a byword among the nations.
Why should it be said among the peoples,
Where is their God?’”
God’s Response and Promise
18Then the LORD became jealous for his land,
and had pity on his people.
19In response to his people the LORD said:
I am sending you
grain, wine, and oil,
and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a mockery among the nations.
20I will remove the northern army far from you,
and drive it into a parched and desolate land,
its front into the eastern sea,
and its rear into the western sea;
its stench and foul smell will rise up.
Surely he has done great things!
21Do not fear, O soil;
be glad and rejoice,
for the LORD has done great things!
22Do not fear, you animals of the field,
for the pastures of the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit,
the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
23O children of Zion, be glad
and rejoice in the LORD your God;
for he has given the early rainc for your vindication,
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
the early and the later rain, as before.
24The threshing floors shall be full of grain,
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25I will repay you for the years
that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
my great army, which I sent against you.
26You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
27You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
God’s Spirit Poured Out
28d Then afterward
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
29Even on the male and female slaves,
in those days, I will pour out my spirit.
30I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 32Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
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a Meaning of Heb uncertain
b Gk Syr Vg: Heb they do not take a pledge along
c Meaning of Heb uncertain
d Ch 3.1 in Heb
2.1–14 The prophet’s call for the nation to lament concerning the threat of invasion by an enemy army.
2.2 Darkness and gloom, the thrust also of the “day” passage in Am 5.18.
2.5 Rumbling…crackling. Those who have experienced locust plagues remark on the accompanying noise, which is like a roar or an onrushing fire.
2.8–9 No way has ever been discovered of stopping the ongoing rush of a locust horde.
2.10–11 The effect of the locusts, now with YHWH at their head, is that of the day of the LORD described in more detail in 2.30–31.
2.12–14 YHWH appeals for the people to return and avoid the projected consequences of the day of the LORD (1.15).
2.12 Fasting…weeping, a further description of the lamentation theme of 1.13–14.
2.13 Gracious…relents from punishing. This concatenation of epithets is as deeply religious as anything in all of prophetic literature; each of these elements is found elsewhere (see Ex 34.6; Ps 103.8–9).
2.15–3.21 The prophet’s announcement of YHWH’s response to the people’s lament. YHWH promises to protect the people from threats.
2.15–20 The prophet summons the people to a holy assembly in the temple so that they can appeal for protection to YHWH. YHWH responds that the people will have crops and deliverance from an oppressor who comes from the north.
2.17 The vestibule and the altar. The prophet knows quite a bit about the temple and its practices. The vestibule was at the entrance and the altar was at the extreme front, so this is another way of saying the whole temple. We can picture a procession here or the description of the places where prayer was offered.
2.20 Northern army. Other than from Egypt, almost all of Israel’s invasions came from the north. The eastern sea is the Persian (Arabian) Gulf, and the western sea is the Mediterranean. Stench. Victims of present-day locust swarms describe the fetid odor from the millions of dead insects remaining when the plague is over.
2.21–3.8 YHWH reassures the people that creation will be restored and the nation delivered from oppressors.
2.21–27 The crops will grow again, the army (v. 20) will go away; indeed there will be a reversal in that the people will have abundance and they will praise YHWH’s name (v. 26). Then they will know that YHWH is in their midst (v. 27; cf. Isa 7.14).
2.25 The reversal of fortune refers to the locusts, now an army, in the same terms as in 1.4.
2.27 This assurance of YHWH’s presence has the tone of an ending, delineating one of the several divisions in the book. Never again. The invasions will not occur over and over again, as in the past, but will come to an end. The theme is repeated in 3.17.
2.28–32 Joel’s announcement concerning YHWH’s signs and wonders on the day of the LORD (1.15).
2.28–29 The spirit (or “wind” the Hebrew word can mean either) poured out employs the metaphor of the Hamsin (Arabic) or Sharav (Hebrew), the dry desert wind that marks the change of seasons and the same wind that divides the Red Sea in the exodus traditions (Ex 14–15
), to describe a prophetic fervor, a kind of ecstasy, as in Num 11.25. But unlike anything seen before, the spirit will fall on all human beings, irrespective of their social status or class. This will occur afterward…in those days, a “day of YHWH” motif, sometime in the future.
2.30–31 Cf. 2.10; 3.15. With these apocalyptic elements, the text slips into a different “language.” The portents in the sky, and the blood, fire, and columns of smoke recall the imagery of the exodus, when a pillar of smoke and fire, employing the symbolism of the temple altar in operation, led the people through the wilderness to the promised land (Ex 13.21–22; 40.36–38). The sun…turned to darkness and the moon turned to blood likewise use Exodus motifs but rely on the natural imagery of the Hamsin/Sharav (see note on 2.28–29), which darkens the sky and makes the moon appear blood red due to the large amount of dust and dirt blown through the sky.
2.32 Everyone who calls must by context mean Judeans.
JOEL 3a
1For then, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with them there, on account of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations. They have divided my land, 3and cast lots for my people, and traded boys for prostitutes, and sold girls for wine, and drunk it down.
4What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads swiftly and speedily. 5For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.b 6You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them far from their own border. 7But now I will rouse them to leave the places to which you have sold them, and I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads. 8I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away; for the Lord has spoken.
Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat
9Proclaim this among the nations:
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