Discovery BoxJoel 1:14 
Contextproclaim a sacred assembly.
Gather the elders and 2 all the inhabitants of the land
to the temple of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
Joel 2:11
Context2:11 The voice of the Lord thunders 3 as he leads his army. 4
Indeed, his warriors 5 are innumerable; 6
Surely his command is carried out! 7
Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome 8
and very terrifying – who can survive 9 it?
Joel 2:16
Context2:16 Gather the people;
sanctify an assembly!
Gather the elders;
gather the children and the nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom
and the bride from her private quarters. 10
Joel 2:28
Context2:28 (3:1) 11 After all of this 12
I will pour out my Spirit 13 on all kinds of people. 14
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your elderly will have revelatory dreams; 15
your young men will see prophetic visions.
Joel 3:16
Context3:16 The Lord roars from Zion;
from Jerusalem 16 his voice bellows out. 17
The heavens 18 and the earth shake.
But the Lord is a refuge for his people;
he is a stronghold for the citizens 19 of Israel.
1 tn Heb “consecrate a fast” (so NASB).
2 tc The conjunction “and” does not appear in MT or LXX, but does appear in some Qumran texts (4QXIIc and 4QXIIg).
3 tn Heb “the
4 tn Heb “before his army.”
5 tn Heb “military encampment.”
6 tn Heb “very large.”
7 tn Heb “he makes his word powerful.”
8 tn Or “powerful.” Heb “great.”
9 tn Heb “endure.” The MT and LXX read “endure,” while one of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXIIc) has “bear.”
10 sn Mosaic law allowed men recently married, or about to be married, to be exempt for a year from certain duties that were normally mandatory, such as military obligation (cf. Deut 20:7; 24:5). However, Joel pictures a time of such urgency that normal expectations must give way to higher requirements.
11 sn Beginning with 2:28, the verse numbers through 3:21 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 2:28 ET = 3:1 HT, 2:29 ET = 3:2 HT, 2:30 ET = 3:3 HT, 2:31 ET = 3:4 HT, 2:32 ET = 3:5 HT, 3:1 ET = 4:1 HT, etc., through 3:21 ET = 4:21 HT. Thus Joel in the Hebrew Bible has 4 chapters, the 5 verses of ch. 3 being included at the end of ch. 2 in the English Bible.
12 tn Heb “Now it will be after this.”
13 sn This passage plays a key role in the apostolic explanation of the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2:17-21. Peter introduces his quotation of this passage with “this is that spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:16; cf. the similar pesher formula used at Qumran). The New Testament experience at Pentecost is thus seen in some sense as a fulfillment of this Old Testament passage, even though that experience did not exhaustively fulfill Joel’s words. Some portions of Joel’s prophecy have no precise counterpart in that experience. For example, there is nothing in the experience recorded in Acts 2 that exactly corresponds to the earthly and heavenly signs described in Joel 3:3-4. But inasmuch as the messianic age had already begun and the “last days” had already commenced with the coming of the Messiah (cf. Heb 1:1-2), Peter was able to point to Joel 3:1-5 as a text that was relevant to the advent of Jesus and the bestowal of the Spirit. The equative language that Peter employs (“this is that”) stresses an incipient fulfillment of the Joel passage without precluding or minimizing a yet future and more exhaustive fulfillment in events associated with the return of Christ.
14 tn Heb “all flesh.” As a term for humanity, “flesh” suggests the weakness and fragility of human beings as opposed to God who is “spirit.” The word “all” refers not to all human beings without exception (cf. NAB, NASB “all mankind”; NLT “all people”), but to all classes of human beings without distinction (cf. NCV).
15 tn Heb “your old men will dream dreams.”
16 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
17 tn Heb “he sounds forth his voice.”
18 tn Or “the sky.” See the note on “sky” in 2:30.
19 tn Heb “sons.”
