Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
The famine ends when Yahweh and Joel urge the people to repent.
II. Photo
The famine comes to an end: “Fig tree and vine have yielded their strength!” (v. 22b)
III. Important Verses
1-3: Blow a horn in Zion, Sound an alarm on My holy mount! Let all dwellers on earth tremble, For the day of the LORD has come! It is close — A day of darkness and gloom, A day of densest cloud Spread like soot over the hills. A vast, enormous horde — Nothing like it has ever happened, And it shall never happen again Through the years and ages. Their vanguard is a consuming fire, Their rear guard a devouring flame. Before them the land was like the Garden of Eden, Behind them, a desolate waste: Nothing has escaped them.
11-12: And the LORD roars aloud At the head of His army; For vast indeed is His host, Numberless are those that do His bidding. For great is the day of the LORD, Most terrible — who can endure it? “Yet even now” — says the LORD — “Turn back to Me with all your hearts, And with fasting, weeping, and lamenting.”
23-24: O children of Zion, be glad, Rejoice in the LORD your God. For He has given you the early rain in [His] kindness, Now He makes the rain fall [as] formerly — The early rain and the late — And threshing floors shall be piled with grain, And vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.
27: And you shall know That I am in the midst of Israel: That I the LORD am your God And there is no other. And My people shall be shamed no more.”
IV. Outline
1. Call to sound an alarm
2-10. A rhetorical description of the locust
11-13. God calls upon the people to fast, pray, and return to him
14-17. Joel urges the people to congregate, fast, and pray
18-26. God promises to restore the land to its glory
27. Recognition of God formula
V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.
VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Collins, John J. “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible,” (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004).
Photo taken from http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/43319468_6122496818.jpg
