Discovery BoxJoel 1:5 
Context1:5 Wake up, you drunkards, 1 and weep!
Wail, all you wine drinkers, 2
because the sweet wine 3 has been taken away 4 from you. 5
Joel 1:19
Context1:19 To you, O Lord, I call out for help, 6
for fire 7 has burned up 8 the grassy pastures, 9
flames have razed 10 all the trees in the fields.
Joel 2:12
Context2:12 “Yet even now,” the Lord says,
“return to me with all your heart –
with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
Tear your hearts, 11
not just your garments!”
Joel 3:9
Context3:9 Proclaim this among the nations:
“Prepare for a holy war!
Call out the warriors!
Let all these fighting men approach and attack! 12
Joel 3:11-12
Context3:11 Lend your aid 13 and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves 14 to that place.”
Bring down, O Lord, your warriors! 15
3:12 Let the nations be roused and let them go up
to the valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit in judgment on all the surrounding nations.
1 sn The word drunkards has a double edge here. Those accustomed to drinking too much must now lament the unavailability of wine. It also may hint that the people in general have become religiously inebriated and are unresponsive to the Lord. They are, as it were, drunkards from a spiritual standpoint.
2 sn Joel addresses the first of three groups particularly affected by the locust plague. In v. 5 he describes the effects on the drunkards, who no longer have a ready supply of intoxicating wine; in vv. 11-12 he describes the effects on the farmers, who have watched their labors come to naught because of the insect infestation; and in vv. 13-14 he describes the effects on the priests, who are no longer able to offer grain sacrifices and libations in the temple.
3 tn Heb “over the sweet wine, because it.” Cf. KJV, NIV, TEV, NLT “new wine.”
4 tn Heb “cut off” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV); NAB “will be withheld.”
5 tn Heb “your mouth.” This is a synecdoche of part (the mouth) for whole (the person).
6 tn The phrase “for help” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
7 sn Fire here and in v. 20 is probably not to be understood in a literal sense. The locust plague, accompanied by conditions of extreme drought, has left the countryside looking as though everything has been burned up (so also in Joel 2:3).
8 tn Heb “consumed.” This entire line is restated at the end of v. 20.
9 tn Heb “the pastures of the wilderness.”
10 tn Heb “a flame has set ablaze.” This fire was one of the effects of the drought.
11 sn The figurative language calls for genuine repentance, and not merely external ritual that goes through the motions.
12 tn Heb “draw near and go up.”
13 tn This Hebrew verb is found only here in the OT; its meaning is uncertain. Some scholars prefer to read here עוּרוּ (’uru, “arouse”) or חוּשׁוּ (khushu, “hasten”).
14 tc The present translation follows the reading of the imperative הִקָּבְצוּ (hiqqavÿtsu) rather than the perfect with vav (ו) consecutive וְנִקְבָּצוּ (vÿniqbbatsu) of the MT.
15 tc Some commentators prefer to delete the line “Bring down, O
