Yoel 1:14

1:14 Announce a holy fast; ¹ 

proclaim a sacred assembly.

Gather the elders and ²  all the inhabitants of the land

to the temple of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

Yoel 3:3

3:3 and they cast lots for my people.

They traded ³  a boy for a prostitute;

they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink. ⁴ 

[1:14]  ¹ tn Heb “consecrate a fast” (so NASB).

[1:14]  ² tc The conjunction “and” does not appear in MT or LXX, but does appear in some Qumran texts (4QXII^c and 4QXII^g).

[3:3]  ³ tn Heb “gave.”

[3:3]  ⁴ sn Heb “and they drank.” Joel vividly refers to a situation where innocent human life has little value; its only worth is its use in somehow satisfying selfish appetites of wicked people who have control over others (cf. Amos 2:6 and 8:6).