Discovery BoxJoel 3:4 
Context3:4 Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon? 1
Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia? 2
I will very quickly repay you for what you have done! 3
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! 4
Joel 3:13
Context3:13 Rush forth with 5 the sickle, for the harvest is ripe!
Come, stomp the grapes, 6 for the winepress is full!
The vats overflow.
Indeed, their evil is great! 7
1 tn Heb “What [are] you [doing] to me, O Tyre and Sidon?”
2 tn Or “districts.”
3 tn Heb “quickly, speedily, I will return your recompense on your head.” This is an idiom for retributive justice and an equitable reversal of situation.
4 tn Heb “draw near and go up.”
5 tn Heb “send.”
6 tn Heb “go down” or “tread.” The Hebrew term רְדוּ (rÿdu) may be from יָרַד (yarad, “to go down”) or from רָדָה (radah, “have dominion,” here in the sense of “to tread”). If it means “go down,” the reference would be to entering the vat to squash the grapes. If it means “tread,” the verb would refer specifically to the action of those who walk over the grapes to press out their juice. The phrase “the grapes” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
7 sn The immediacy of judgment upon wickedness is likened to the urgency required for a harvest that has reached its pinnacle of development. When the harvest is completely ripe, there can be no delay by the reapers in gathering the harvest. In a similar way, Joel envisions a time when human wickedness will reach such a heightened degree that there can be no further stay of divine judgment (cf. the “fullness of time” language in Gal 4:4).
