Discovery BoxJoel 1:7 
Context1:7 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
Joel 1:13
Context1:13 Get dressed 8 and lament, you priests!
Wail, you who minister at the altar!
Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God,
because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings
to the temple of your God anymore. 9
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 tn Heb “put on.” There is no object present in the Hebrew text, but many translations assume “sackcloth” to be the understood object of the verb “put on.” Its absence in the Hebrew text of v. 13 is probably due to metrical considerations. The meter here is 3 + 3, and that has probably influenced the prophet’s choice of words.
9 tn Heb “for grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.”
