¹ sn A quotation from Joel 2:32.

² sn A quotation from Joel 2:28-32.

² sn The name Joel means in Hebrew “the Lord is God.”

³ tn This rare word may refer to the early (or autumn) rains (see Joel 2:23).

² sn On the OT background of the Spirit being poured out, see Isa 32:15; Joel 2:28-29.

¹ sn This rhetorical question emphasizes her position among women (e.g., Mic 2:7; Joel 2:1).

² sn An allusion to Exod 34:6; Neh 9:17; Pss 86:15; 102:13; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2.

¹ sn The phrase in the last days is not quoted from Joel, but represents Peter’s interpretive explanation of the current events as falling “in the last days.”

³ sn This imagery has parallels to the Day of the Lord: Joel 2:10; Amos 8:9; Zeph 1:15.

² sn This imagery has parallels to the Day of the Lord: Joel 2:10; Amos 8:9; Zeph 1:15.

¹ sn Joel 3:1 in the English Bible is 4:1 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See also the note at 2:28.

² tn Joel uses intentionally alliterative language in the phrases שֻׁדַּד שָׂדֶה (shuddad sadeh, “the field is destroyed”) and אֲבְלָה אֲדָמָה (ʾav^elah ʾadamah, “the ground is in mourning”).

⁵ tn Heb “to destroy (with) perpetual hostility.” Joel 3:4-8 also speaks of the Philistines taking advantage of the fall of Judah.

¹ sn The same ideas are found in Joel 2:4. The leaping motion is compared to the galloping of the horse.

⁵ sn For half the year Palestine is generally dry. The rainy season begins with the early rains usually in late October to early December, followed by the latter rains in March and April. Without these rains productive farming would not be possible, as Joel’s original readers knew only too well.

³ 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 events at Pentecost are 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 events 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.

¹ sn The Hebrew term means “divided”; they go forward in orderly divisions, or ranks (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 535). Joel 1:4 describes their order and uses it as a picture of a coming invasion (e.g., Joel 2:7, 8). Therefore the wisdom of the locust is in their order and cooperation.

³ tn Or “a vapor.” The Greek word ἀτμίς (atmis) denotes a swirl of smoke arising from a fire (cf. Gen 19:28; Lev 16:13; Joel 2:30 [Acts 2:19]; Ezek 8:11).

⁶ sn The gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out. Cf. the account in Acts 2, especially 2:33. Note also Joel 2:17-21 and Acts 11:15-18.

¹ tn Heb “will not shine its light.” For similar features of cosmic eschatology, see Joel 2:10; 3:15; Amos 5:18-20; Zeph 1:5.