Yoel 3:16

3:16 The Lord roars from Zion;

from Jerusalem ¹  his voice bellows out. ² 

The heavens ³  and the earth shake.

But the Lord is a refuge for his people;

he is a stronghold for the citizens ⁴  of Israel.

Yoel 2:18-19

The Lord’s Response

2:18 Then the Lord became ⁵  zealous for his land;

he had compassion on his people.

2:19 The Lord responded ⁶  to his people,

“Look! I am about to restore your grain ⁷ 

as well as fresh wine and olive oil.

You will be fully satisfied. ⁸ 

I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.

Yoel 1:14

1:14 Announce a holy fast; ⁹ 

proclaim a sacred assembly.

Gather the elders and ¹⁰  all the inhabitants of the land

to the temple of the Lord your God,

and cry out to the Lord.

Yoel 2:13-14

2:13 Return to the Lord your God,

for he is merciful and compassionate,

slow to anger and boundless in loyal love ¹¹  – often relenting from calamitous punishment. ¹² 

2:14 Who knows?

Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve, ¹³ 

and leave blessing in his wake ¹⁴  –

a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the Lord your God! ¹⁵ 

[3:16]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:16]  ² tn Heb “he sounds forth his voice.”

[3:16]  ³ tn Or “the sky.” See the note on “sky” in 2:30.

[3:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “sons.”

[2:18]  ⁵ tn The time-frame entertained by the verbs of v.18 constitutes a crux interpretum in this chapter. The Hebrew verb forms used here are preterites with vav consecutive and are most naturally understood as describing a past situation. However, some modern English versions render these verbs as futures (e.g., NIV, NASV), apparently concluding that the context requires a future reference. According to Joüon 2:363 §112.h, n.1 Ibn Ezra explained the verbs of Joel 2:18 as an extension of the so-called prophetic perfect; as such, a future fulfillment was described with a past tense as a rhetorical device lending certainty to the fulfillment. But this lacks adequate precedent and is very unlikely from a syntactical standpoint. It seems better to take the verbs in the normal past sense of the preterite. This would require a vantage point for the prophet at some time after the people had responded favorably to the Lord’s call for repentance and after the Lord had shown compassion and forgiveness toward his people, but before the full realization of God’s promises to restore productivity to the land. In other words, it appears from the verbs of vv. 18-19 that at the time of Joel’s writing this book the events of successive waves of locust invasion and conditions of drought had almost run their course and the people had now begun to turn to the Lord.

[2:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[2:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “Look! I am sending grain to you.” The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to suggest imminent action.

[2:19]  ⁸ tc One of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXII^c) inserts “and you will eat” before “and you will be fully satisfied” (the reading of the MT, LXX).

[1:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “consecrate a fast” (so NASB).

[1:14]  ¹⁰ tc The conjunction “and” does not appear in MT or LXX, but does appear in some Qumran texts (4QXII^c and 4QXII^g).

[2:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and great of loyal love.”

[2:13]  ¹² tn Heb “and he relents from calamity.”

[2:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “turn” or “turn back.”

[2:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “leave a blessing behind him.”

[2:14]  ¹⁵ tn The phrase “for you to offer” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.