1:2 Listen to this, you elders; 1
pay attention, 2 all inhabitants of the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life 3
or in the lifetime 4 of your ancestors? 5
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
2:25 I will make up for the years 9
that the ‘arbeh-locust 10 consumed your crops 11 –
the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust –
my great army 12 that I sent against you.
2:27 You will be convinced that I am in the midst of Israel.
I am the Lord your God; there is no other.
My people will never again be put to shame.
3:17 You will be convinced 13 that I the Lord am your God,
dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain.
Jerusalem 14 will be holy –
conquering armies 15 will no longer pass through it.
1 sn Elders here refers not necessarily to men advanced in years, but to leaders within the community.
2 tn Heb “give ear.”
3 tn Heb “days.” The term “days” functions here as a synecdoche for one’s lifespan.
4 tn Heb “days.”
5 tn Heb “fathers.”
6 tn Heb “turn” or “turn back.”
7 tn Heb “leave a blessing behind him.”
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.
9 tn Heb “I will restore to you the years.”
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.
10 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.
11 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.
12 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.
13 tn Heb “know.”
14 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
15 tn Heb “strangers” or “foreigners.” In context, this refers to invasions by conquering armies.