Introduction to Joel Table of Contents
Joel, son of Phatuel, seems to have prophesied sometime around 400 BCE. We have little information to go on regarding his setting, other than internal evidence in the text. The following is a The Book of Joel sample of the evidence: • Joel mentions a temple that is standing and actively used. translated from The Vulgate • He refers to priests as the people’s leaders, rather than kings. • He mentions Greeks (3:6). • He uses the names Israel and Judah interchangeably.
Joel’s prophecy describes a ©2008, John G. Cunyus ferocious plague of locusts, All Rights to the English which has destroyed the land’s Translation Reserved crops. He likens this plague to www.JohnCunyus.com the coming “Lord’s day,”
Latin text from “The Latin when God will judge nations. Vulgate.” Biblia Sacra Iuxta J oe l ’ s prophecy also Vulgatam Versionem, Fourth anticipates a day of restoration Revised Edition, edited by Roger and blessing, which will come Gryson, © 1994 Deutsche upon God’s people. Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. Used by permission. The book itself is a call to The Book of Joel, 2 repentance and faithfulness on The Book of Joel the part of all who accept its Table of Content message. Its descriptions of conflicts between Israel and Joel 1:1 verbum Domini Palestinians seem remarkably quod factum est ad Iohel current, at the time of this filium Fatuhel translation (January 2009). The timelessness of Joel’s The Lord’s word, which message is aided by its vivid came to Joel, Phatuel’s son. i m a g e r y , t h e o l o gi c a l imagination, and fervent hope 1:2 audite hoc senes et for a God-centered future. auribus percipite omnes habitatores terrae si factum est istud in diebus vestris aut in diebus patrum vestrorum
Hear this, elders, and perceive with ears, all the land’s inhabitants, whether this was done in your days or in your fathers’ days.
1:3 super hoc filiis vestris narrate et filii vestri filiis suis et filii eorum generationi alterae
Tell your children about this, and your children their children, and their children another generation.
1:4 residuum erucae comedit The Book of Joel, 3 lucusta et residuum lucustae 1:7 posuit vineam meam in comedit bruchus et residuum desertum et ficum meam bruchi comedit rubigo decorticavit nudans spoliavit eam et proiecit albi facti sunt What the worm left, the rami eius locust has eaten. And what the locust left, the insect has It has placed my vine in eaten. And what the insect desert, and has adorned my left, blight has eaten. fig tree. It has stripped it naked, and thrown it down. 1:5 expergescimini ebrii et Its branches have become flete et ululate omnes qui white. bibitis vinum in dulcedine quoniam periit ab ore vestro 1:8 plange quasi virgo accincta sacco super virum Come out from drunkenness, pubertatis suae and weep and wail, all who drink wine in sweetness, Wail like a virgin wearing because it has perished from mourning clothes over the your mouth! husband of her youth!
1:6 gens enim ascendit super 1:9 periit sacrificium et terram meam fortis et libatio de domo Domini innumerabilis dentes eius ut luxerunt sacerdotes ministri dentes leonis et molares eius Domini ut catuli leonis Sacrifice has ceased, and For a people is coming up drink offering from the over my land, mighty and Lord’s house. Priests have numberless. Its teeth are like grieved, the Lord’s ministers! lions’ teeth, and its molars like lions’ cubs. 1:10 depopulata est regio luxit humus quoniam The Book of Joel, 4 devastatum est triticum 1:13 accingite vos et confusum est vinum elanguit plangite sacerdotes ululate oleum ministri altaris ingredimini cubate in sacco ministri Dei The region is depopulated. mei quoniam interiit de domo The ground mourns, because Dei vestri sacrificium et the wheat is devastated. The libatio vine is ruined. The oil is sick. Clothe yourselves and weep, priests! Wail, altars’ 1:11 confusi sunt agricolae ministers! Go in and lie ululaverunt vinitores super down in mourning’s clothes, frumento et hordeo quia my God’s ministers, because periit messis agri sacrifice and drink offering have ceased from your God’s Farmers are upset. Vineyard house! workers have wailed over grain and barley, because the 1:14 sanctificate ieiunium field’s harvest has perished. vocate coetum congregate senes omnes habitatores 1:12 vinea confusa est et terrae in domum Dei vestri et ficus elanguit malogranatum clamate ad Dominum et palma et malum et omnia ligna agri aruerunt quia Sanctify a fast. Call an confusum est gaudium a filiis assembly. Gather the elders, hominum all the land’s inhabitants, into our God’s house. And cry The vine is ruined and the fig out to the Lord! tree is sick. Pomegranate and palm and apple and all the 1:15 a a a diei quia prope field’s trees have dried up, est dies Domini et quasi because joy is ruined among vastitas a potente veniet men’s children. The Book of Joel, 5
Ah, ah, ah, for the day, bellowed because there is no because the Lord’s day is pasture for them. Yet even near! And it comes like flocks of sheep have devastation from the mighty! perished!
1:16 numquid non coram 1:19 ad te Domine clamabo oculis vestris alimenta quia ignis comedit speciosa perierunt de domo Dei nostri deserti et flamma succendit laetitia et exultatio omnia ligna regionis
Hasn’t food ceased before I will cry out to You, Lord, our eyes, joy and exultation because fire has devoured the from our God’s house? desert’s beauty, and flame has burned up all the region’s 1:17 conputruerunt iumenta trees! in stercore suo demolita sunt horrea dissipatae sunt 1:20 sed et bestiae agri apothecae quoniam confusum quasi area sitiens imbrem est triticum suspexerunt ad te quoniam exsiccati sunt fontes aquarum Cattle have rotted in their et ignis devoravit speciosa filth! The storehouse is deserti demolished! The wine cellars are emptied, because Yet even the field’s beasts the wheat is ruined! have looked up to You, like land thirsting for rain – for 1:18 quid ingemuit animal springs of water have dried mugierunt greges armenti up, and fire has devoured the quia non est pascua eis sed et desert’s beauty. greges pecorum disperierunt
Why has the animal groaned? The herd’s flocks have The Book of Joel, 6
Joel 2:1 canite tuba in Sion 2:3 ante faciem eius ignis ululate in monte sancto meo vorans et post eum exurens conturbentur omnes flamma quasi hortus habitatores terrae quia venit voluptatis terra coram eo et dies Domini quia prope est post eum solitudo deserti neque est qui effugiat eum Sound the trumpet in Sion! Howl on my holy mountain! Fire goes devouring before its Let all the land’s inhabitants face, and after it burning be troubled, because the flames! The land before it is Lord’s day is coming – like desires’ garden, and after because it is near! it deserted wasteland! Nor is there anyone who may flee 2:20 dies tenebrarum et it! caliginis dies nubis et turbinis quasi mane 2:4 quasi aspectus equorum expansum super montes aspectus eorum et quasi populus multus et fortis equites sic current similis ei non fuit a principio et post eum non erit usque in Their faces are like horses’ annos generationis et faces. And like cavalry, so generationis they will run.
A day of shadows and gloom, 2:5 sicut sonitus a day of clouds and tornados! quadrigarum super capita A great and mighty people is montium exilient sicut sonitus spread out like morning over flammae ignis devorantis the mountains! And from stipulam velut populus fortis the beginning none was like praeparatus ad proelium it! And after it none will be, even in years of generations They will burst forth like the and generations! sound of four-horse chariots over the mountains’ summits, The Book of Joel, 7 like the sound of flaming fire Each one will not crowd his devouring stubble, like a brother. They will walk in its mighty people prepared for street. Yet they will fall even battle! through windows and not be destroyed. 2:6 a facie eius cruciabuntur populi omnes vultus 2:9 urbem ingredientur in redigentur in ollam muro current domos conscendent per fenestras Peoples will be tortured intrabunt quasi fur before its face. All expressions will be driven They will go through the city. back into a jar. They will run on the wall. They will let themselves 2:7 sicut fortes current quasi down into houses. They will viri bellatores ascendent come through windows like a murum vir in viis suis thief. gradietur et non declinabunt a semitis suis 2:10 a facie eius contremuit terra moti sunt caeli sol et Like mighty ones, they will luna obtenebrati sunt et run. Like strong warriors, stellae retraxerunt they will climb a wall. The splendorem suum man will advance in his ways. And they will not turn The land has trembled before aside from their paths. its face. Skies are shaken. Sun and moon are shadowed 2:8 unusquisque fratrem over, and stars have drawn suum non coartabit singuli in back their splendor. calle suo ambulabunt sed et per fenestras cadent et non 2:11 et Dominus dedit demolientur vocem suam ante faciem exercitus sui quia multa sunt The Book of Joel, 8 nimis castra eius quia fortia et facientia verbum eius And tear your hearts and not magnus enim dies Domini et your garments!1 And be terribilis valde et quis converted to the Lord your sustinebit eum God, because He is kind and compassionate, patient and of And the Lord gave His voice many mercies, and superior before His army’s face, to ill will! because its camps are overwhelmingly great, 2:14 quis scit si convertatur because they are mighty, et ignoscat et relinquat post working His word. For the se benedictionem sacrificium Lord’s day is great, and et libamen Domino Deo greatly terrifying, and who nostro will withstand it? Who knows if He will turn 2:12 nunc ergo dicit back, and pardon, and leave Dominus convertimini ad me behind Him blessing, in toto corde vestro in ieiunio sacrifice, and drink offering et in fletu et in planctu to the Lord our God?
Now therefore, the Lord says, 2:15 canite tuba in Sion Turn back to me in all your sanctificate ieiunium vocate heart, in fasting and in coetum weeping and in mourning! Sound a trumpet in Sion! 2:13 et scindite corda vestra Sanctify a fast! Call an et non vestimenta vestra et assembly! convertimini ad Dominum Deum vestrum quia benignus 2:16 congregate populum et misericors est patiens et multae misericordiae et praestabilis super malitia 1 Tearing one’s garment is a sign of mourning in many cultures. The Book of Joel, 9 sanctificate ecclesiam 2:18 zelatus est Dominus coadunate senes congregate terram suam et pepercit parvulos et sugentes ubera populo suo egrediatur sponsus de cubili suo et sponsa de thalamo suo The Lord has loved His land ardently, and has spared His Gather the people! Sanctify people. the gathering! Collect as one the elders. Gather little ones 2:19 et respondit Dominus et and those sucking breasts. dixit populo suo ecce ego Let the groom come out of mittam vobis frumentum et his bed and the bride from vinum et oleum et her bedroom! replebimini eo et non dabo vos ultra obprobrium in 2:17 inter vestibulum et gentibus altare plorabunt sacerdotes ministri Domini et dicent And the Lord responded and parce Domine populo tuo et said to His people, Look, I ne des hereditatem tuam in will send you grain and wine obprobrium ut dominentur and oil. And you will be eis nationes quare dicunt in filled by it. And I will not populis ubi est Deus eorum give you further shame among the nations. Between the entrance and the altar, the priests, the Lord’s 2:20 et eum qui ab aquilone ministers, will weep. And est procul faciam a vobis et they will say, “Spare, Lord, expellam eum in terram Your people, and do not give inviam et desertam faciem Your inheritance over to eius contra mare orientale et shame, that nations may extremum eius ad mare dominate them! Why will novissimum et ascendet fetor they say among peoples, eius et ascendet putredo eius ‘Where is their God?’ quia superbe egit The Book of Joel, 10
strength. And the one who is from the north I will make far from 2:23 et filii Sion exultate et you. And I will expel him laetamini in Domino Deo into a pathless land and vestro quia dedit vobis desert, his face against the doctorem iustitiae et eastern sea and his end descendere faciet ad vos against the last sea. And his imbrem matutinum et stink will rise up, and his serotinum in principio rottenness will rise up, because he acted proudly. And exult, Sion’s children, and be happy in the Lord 2:21 noli timere terra exulta your God, because He has et laetare quoniam given you fairness’s teacher. magnificavit Dominus ut And He will make early and faceret late rain come down to you, as in the beginning. Do not fear, land! Exult and be joyful, because the Lord 2:24 et implebuntur areae has magnified, that He might frumento et redundabunt work! torcularia vino et oleo
2:22 nolite timere animalia And threshing floors will be regionis quia germinaverunt filled with grain, and the speciosa deserti quia lignum presses will overflow with adtulit fructum suum ficus et wine and oil. vinea dederunt virtutem suam 2:25 et reddam vobis annos Do not fear, region’s animals, quos comedit lucusta bruchus because the desert’s beauties et rubigo et eruca fortitudo have sprung up, because the mea magna quam misi in vos tree has borne its fruit. Fig and vine have given their And I will repay to you the The Book of Joel, 11 years which the locust has 2:28 et erit post haec eaten, the insect and blight effundam spiritum meum and worm – my great super omnem carnem et strength, which I sent among prophetabunt filii vestri et you. filiae vestrae senes vestri somnia somniabunt et 2:26 et comedetis vescentes iuvenes vestri visiones et saturabimini et laudabitis videbunt nomen Domini Dei vestri qui fecit vobiscum mirabilia et And after this it will be that I non confundetur populus will pour out My spirit over meus in sempiternum all flesh. And your sons and your daughters will prophesy. And you will eat, enjoying, And your elders will dream and be filled, and will praise dreams. And your youth will the Lord your God’s name, see visions. who worked wonders for you. And My people will not be 2:29 sed et super servos et dismayed in unending years. ancillas in diebus illis effundam spiritum meum 2:27 et scietis quia in medio Israhel ego sum et ego And I will even pour My Dominus Deus vester et non spirit out over male and est amplius et non female slaves in those days. confundetur populus meus in aeternum 2:30 et dabo prodigia in caelo et in terra sanguinem And you will know that I am et ignem et vaporem fumi in Israel’s midst, and I am the Lord your God, and there is And I will give signs in sky no one besides. And my and in land – blood and fire people will not be dismayed and smoke’s vapor. in eternity. The Book of Joel, 12
2:31 sol vertetur in tenebras Joel 3:1 quia ecce in diebus et luna in sanguinem illis et in tempore illo cum antequam veniat dies Domini convertero captivitatem Iuda magnus et horribilis et Hierusalem
Sun will be turned into For look, in those days and in shadows and moon into that time, when I convert blood, before the Lord’s great Judah’s captivity and and terrifying day may come. Jerusalem’s,
2:32 et erit omnis qui 3:2 congregabo omnes invocaverit nomen Domini gentes et deducam eas in salvus erit quia in monte Sion valle Iosaphat et disceptabo et in Hierusalem erit salvatio cum eis ibi super populo meo sicut dixit Dominus et in et hereditate mea Israhel residuis quos Dominus quos disperserunt in vocaverit nationibus et terram meam diviserunt And it will be that all who have invoked the Lord’s I will gather all nations name will be made secure, together and lead them into because security will be on Jehoshaphat’s Valley. And I Mount Sion and in will dispute with them there Jerusalem, as the Lord said, over My people and my and among the survivors inheritance, Israel, who was whom the Lord has called. dispersed among nations. And they divided My land.
3:3 et super populum meum miserunt sortem et posuerunt puerum in prostibulum et puellam vendiderunt pro vino ut biberent The Book of Joel, 13
gold, and brought my And they threw lots over My desirable and beautiful things people. And they assigned into your sanctuaries. my boys as prostitutes, and sold my girls for wine, that 3:6 et filios Iuda et filios they might drink. Hierusalem vendidistis filiis Graecorum ut longe faceretis 3:4 verum quid vobis et mihi eos de finibus suis Tyrus et Sidon et omnis terminus Palestinorum And you sold Judah’s numquid ultionem vos children and Jerusalem’s redditis mihi et si ulciscimini children to the Greeks’ vos contra me cito velociter children, so you could send reddam vicissitudinem vobis them far away from their super caput vestrum borders.
Truly, what is there between 3:7 ecce ego suscitabo eos you and Me, Tyre and Sidon de loco in quo vendidistis eos and all of the Palestinians’ et convertam retributionem frontiers? Will you pay back vestram in caput vestrum vengeance to Me? And if you avenge yourselves Look, I will stir them up from against Me, I will very the place to which you sold quickly pay back change to them. And I will turn back you, over your heads. retribution on your heads.
3:5 argentum enim meum et 3:8 et vendam filios vestros aurum tulistis et et filias vestras in manibus desiderabilia mea et filiorum Iuda et venundabunt pulcherrima intulistis in eos Sabeis genti longinquae delubra vestra quia Dominus locutus est
For you took my silver and And I will sell your sons and The Book of Joel, 14 your daughters into Judah’s together! The Lord will children’s hands. And they make your mighty ones meet will sell them to the Sabeans, death there! a distant nation, because the Lord has spoken. 3:12 consurgant et ascendant gentes in vallem 3:9 clamate hoc in gentibus Iosaphat quia ibi sedebo ut sanctificate bellum suscitate iudicem omnes gentes in robustos accedant ascendant circuitu omnes viri bellatores Let nations rise up and climb Shout this among nations! up into Jehoshaphat’s valley, Sanctify war! Rouse mighty because I will sit down there, ones! Let them come near! that I may judge all the Let all the warriors climb up! nations around.
3:10 concidite aratra vestra 3:13 mittite falces quoniam in gladios et ligones vestros maturavit messis venite et in lanceas infirmus dicat quia descendite quia plenum est fortis ego sum torcular exuberant torcularia quia multiplicata est malitia Chop your plows into swords, eorum and your hoes into lances. Let the weak speak, for I am Send in the sickles, because mighty! the harvest has matured! Come and climb down, 3:11 erumpite et venite because the press is full!2 omnes gentes de circuitu et The press surges up, because congregamini ibi occumbere their ill-will has multiplied. faciet Dominus robustos tuos
Break out and come, all nations around, and gather 2 The “press” is a wine press or an olive press. The Book of Joel, 15
3:14 populi populi in valle 3:17 et scietis quia ego concisionis quia iuxta est Dominus Deus vester dies Domini in valle habitans in Sion in monte concisionis sancto meo et erit Hierusalem sancta et alieni Peoples, peoples, in non transibunt per eam destruction’s valley, because amplius the Lord’s day is alongside, in destruction’s valley! And you will know that I am the Lord your God, living in 3:15 sol et luna Sion, on My holy mountain. obtenebricata sunt et stellae And Jerusalem will be holy, retraxerunt splendorem suum and strangers will not pass through her any more. Sun and moon are shadowed over, and stars draw back 3:18 et erit in die illa their splendor. stillabunt montes dulcedinem et colles fluent lacte et per 3:16 et Dominus de Sion omnes rivos Iuda ibunt aquae rugiet et de Hierusalem dabit et fons de domo Domini vocem suam et movebuntur egredietur et inrigabit caeli et terra et Dominus torrentem Spinarum spes populi sui et fortitudo filiorum Israhel And in that day, mountains will drip sweetness and hills And the Lord will roar from flow with milk. And waters Sion, and will give His voice will run through all Judah’s from Jerusalem. And sky and streams. And a spring will land will be moved. And the go out from the Lord’s house Lord is His people’s hope, and water the river of Thorns. and Israel’s children’s strength! 3:19 Aegyptus in desolatione erit et Idumea in desertum The Book of Joel, 16 perditionis pro eo quod inique egerint in filios Iuda et effuderint sanguinem innocentem in terra sua
Egypt will be in desolation and Edom3 in destruction’s desert, because they have carried on treacherously with Judah’s children. And they have poured out innocent blood in his land.
3:20 et Iudaea in aeternum habitabitur et Hierusalem in generatione et generationem
And Judah will be inhabited in eternity, and Jerusalem in generation after generation.
3:21 et mundabo sanguinem eorum quem non mundaveram et Dominus commorabitur in Sion
And I will cleanse their blood, which I had not cleansed, and the Lord will live in Sion.
3 The land of Edom, associated with Jacob’s brother, Esau, is located south and east of the Dead Sea. The Book of Joel, 17