2:19 The Lord responded 1 to his people,
“Look! I am about to restore your grain 2
as well as fresh wine and olive oil.
You will be fully satisfied. 3
I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.
3:18 On that day 4 the mountains will drip with sweet wine, 5
and the hills will flow with milk. 6
All the dry stream beds 7 of Judah will flow with water.
A spring will flow out from the temple 8 of the Lord,
watering the Valley of Acacia Trees. 9
1 tn Heb “answered and said.”
2 tn Heb “Look! I am sending grain to you.” The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to suggest imminent action.
3 tc One of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXIIc) inserts “and you will eat” before “and you will be fully satisfied” (the reading of the MT, LXX).
4 tn Heb “and it will come about in that day.”
5 tn Many English translations read “new wine” or “sweet wine,” meaning unfermented wine, i.e., grape juice.
6 sn The language used here is a hyperbolic way of describing both a bountiful grape harvest (“the mountains will drip with juice”) and an abundance of cattle (“the hills will flow with milk”). In addition to being hyperbolic, the language is also metonymical (effect for cause).
7 tn Or “seasonal streams.”
8 tn Heb “house.”
9 tn Heb “valley of Shittim.” The exact location of the Valley of Acacia Trees is uncertain. The Hebrew word שִׁטִּים (shittim) refers to a place where the acacia trees grow, which would be a very arid and dry place. The acacia tree can survive in such locations, whereas most other trees require more advantageous conditions. Joel’s point is that the stream that has been mentioned will proceed to the most dry and barren of locations in the vicinity of Jerusalem.