1:7 They 1 have destroyed our 2 vines; 3
they have turned our 4 fig trees into mere splinters.
They have completely stripped off the bark 5 and thrown them aside;
the 6 twigs are stripped bare. 7
2:7 They 8 charge 9 like warriors;
they scale walls like soldiers. 10
Each one proceeds on his course;
they do not alter 11 their path.
2:26 You will have plenty to eat,
and your hunger will be fully satisfied; 12
you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has acted wondrously in your behalf.
My people will never again be put to shame.
3:5 For you took my silver and my gold
and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces. 13
1 tn Heb “it.” Throughout vv. 6-7 the Hebrew uses singular forms to describe the locust swarm, but the translation uses plural forms because several details of the text make more sense in English as if they are describing the appearance and effects of individual locusts.
2 tn Heb “my.”
3 tn Both “vines” and “fig trees” are singular in the Hebrew text, but are regarded as collective singulars.
4 tn Heb “my.”
5 tn Heb “it has completely stripped her.”
6 tn Heb “her.”
7 tn Heb “grow white.”
sn Once choice leafy vegetation is no longer available to them, locusts have been known to consume the bark of small tree limbs, leaving them in an exposed and vulnerable condition. It is apparently this whitened condition of limbs that Joel is referring to here.
8 sn Since the invaders are compared to warriors, this suggests that they are not actually human, but instead an army of locusts.
9 tn Heb “run.”
10 tn Heb “men of battle.”
11 tc The translation reads יְעַבְּתוּן (yÿ’abbÿtun) for MT יְעַבְּטוּן (yÿ’abbÿtun). The verb found in MT (עָבַט, ’avat) means “take or give a pledge” (cf. Deut 15:6, 8; 24:10) and does not fit the context. Some scholars have proposed various emendations: (1) יְעָוְּתוּן (yÿ’avvÿtun, “they make crooked”); (2) יָטּוּן (yattun, “they turn aside”); (3) יָעַוּוּן (ya’avvun, “they err”); and (4) יְעָבְּתוּן (adopted in the present translation) from the root I עָבַת (’avat, “to twist, pervert”) or II עָבַת (’avat, “to change, abandon”). KBL adopt the latter option, but the only biblical evidence for this is the problematic reference in Joel 2:7. Another option is to view it as a variant of the root חבט (khavat, “turn aside from”), a meaning attested for the Arabic cognate. The difference in spelling would be due to the interchange of the guttural letters khet (ח) and ayin (ע). This may lay behind LXX rendering ἐκκλίνωσιν (ekklinwsin; cf. Syriac Peshitta nstwn and Vg declinabunt). See S. F. Whitley, “‘bt in Joel 2, 7,” Bib 65 (1984): 101-2.
12 tn Heb “you will surely eat and be satisfied.”
13 tn Or perhaps, “temples.”