Joel 1:3

Tell your children ¹  about it, have your children tell their children, and their children the following generation. ² 

Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.

Tell your sons about it, And let your sons tell their sons, And their sons the next generation.

Tell your children about it in the years to come. Pass the awful story down from generation to generation.

Make sure you tell your children, and your children tell their children, And their children [their] children. Don't let this message die out.

Give the story of it to your children, and let them give it to their children, and their children to another generation.

Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

Tell your children about it, Let your children tell their children, And their children another generation.

Tell your children ¹  about it, have your children tell their children, and their children the following generation. ² 

¹ tn Heb “sons.” This word occurs several times in this verse.

² sn The circumstances that precipitated the book of Joel surrounded a locust invasion in Palestine that was of unprecedented proportions. The locusts had devastated the country’s agrarian economy, with the unwelcome consequences extending to every important aspect of commercial, religious, and national life. To further complicate matters, a severe drought had exhausted water supplies, causing life-threatening shortages for animal and human life (cf. v. 20). Locust invasions occasionally present significant problems in Palestine in modern times. The year 1865 was commonly known among Arabic-speaking peoples of the Near East as sent el jarad, “year of the locust.” The years 1892, 1899, and 1904 witnessed significant locust invasions in Palestine. But in modern times there has been nothing equal in magnitude to the great locust invasion that began in Palestine in February of 1915. This modern parallel provides valuable insight into the locust plague the prophet Joel points to as a foreshadowing of the day of the Lord. For an eyewitness account of the 1915 locust invasion of Palestine see J. D. Whiting, “Jerusalem’s Locust Plague,” National Geographic 28 (December 1915): 511-50.