Joelchapter 3
21 verses · Joel · 9th century BC · The Twelve
Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because their wickedness is great.
Introduction
Joel, The Twelve, Joel Overview.
This last chapter of Joel turns from Judah's fields to the nations that had wronged Judah. Its first hearers were a small people whose sons and daughters had been seized in raids and sold abroad by coastal traders. The chapter is set as a trial, with God as the judge and the nations summoned before Him. Listen for the charges, which are named plainly, and for the sentence that answers each crime in kind. Notice the words taken from earlier prophets and turned around. Read it as the end the whole book has been moving toward.
Context
- Who
- A small people who had been bought and sold by bigger ones
- What
- The LORD's judgment of the nations that scattered and sold His people, and the promise of a holy Jerusalem where He dwells.
- Where
- The Valley of Jehoshaphat, a name meaning the LORD judges, with Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Egypt and Edom named, and Zion at the centre.
- When
- The same uncertain setting as the rest of the book; the chapter itself looks ahead to the Day of the LORD.
- Why
- To assure a wronged people that God would judge their oppressors and would live among them in Zion for ever.
Historical context
The valley's name is its meaning: Jehoshaphat means the LORD judges. No valley of that name is known from the geography of the period, and the text pairs it with a second name, the valley of decision, which suggests the name is a description of what happens there rather than a map reference.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The specific charge against Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia is slave trading, and it was a real business. Phoenician merchants ran the Mediterranean carrying trade, and selling captives from inland wars to buyers overseas was a standard part of it. The buyers named are the Greeks, far to the west, and the sellers are told their own children will be sold to the Sabeans, the caravan traders of southern Arabia, the far end of the other trade road.
The famous line about beating plowshares into swords is a deliberate reversal of the promise in Isaiah and Micah. The tools named are the working iron of a village: a plough point and a pruning hook, both reforged by the same smith who made them. Joel tells the nations to mobilise every scrap of metal they have, and it will not be enough.
The harvest images at the end are two ways of saying the same thing. The sickle is put in because the grain is ripe, and the winepress is trodden because the vats overflow, treading was done barefoot in a rock-cut basin, and the juice ran through a channel into a lower vat.
Significance
For hearers whose relatives had been carried off by slavers, the promise that God would return their deeds on their own heads was not abstract theology. It was the case finally being heard by a judge who could enforce the verdict.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The last picture is of the land healed: mountains dripping sweet wine, hills flowing with milk, and a spring coming out of the house of the LORD to water the dry valley of acacias. This is the kingdom on the earth after the King returns, Egypt and Edom left desolate for their violence, and Judah inhabited forever.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for this lane, printed no weekly portion and no Haftarah from this chapter, and no festival reading for the book. The same probe printed 54 weekly portions and 6 festival readings in the table as a whole, and a search of the file for the name Joel printed 0. That table carries the Haftarah of each weekly portion and the books read whole at the feasts, and it carries nothing for the special Sabbaths or the fast days. This card therefore names no public reading of the chapter and leaves that question to a source that holds those readings.
The corpus joins the chapter to the weeks of the Torah portions through the works arranged by portion. Under Hebrew 4:6, English 3:6, it carries Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vayigash 11:1. Under Hebrew 4:20, English 3:20, it carries Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vayigash 8:3.
How it is read
Rashi is the one commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries. He is quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY, and every quotation of it is held to fifty words or fewer because the translation is modern. His notes quote the verse in that translation's wording, and those words are never quoted here. The English chapter is Hebrew Joel 4, verse for verse, so every ref below keeps the Hebrew number the corpus prints, with the English verse named beside it.
Rashi reads the Valley of Jehoshaphat by its name. God says "I will descend with them to the depth of justice". The name itself means "The judgments of the Lord" (Rashi on Joel 4:2:1, English 3:2). The valley of decision at the fourteenth verse is read the same way. "For there it is decided that the judgment is true". He reports that Jonathan renders it "the valley of judgment" (Rashi on Joel 4:14:1, English 3:14). A second note on the second verse is marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of it, and it stands cited at Rashi on Joel 4:2:2, English 3:2.
The charge against Tyre at the fourth verse he reads against the history of Kings. He asks whether this is the repayment for the twenty cities Solomon gave Hiram, king of Tyre, and names I Kings 9:11 (Rashi on Joel 4:4:1, English 3:4). The call to prepare war at the ninth verse he reads as a taunt, "if you can wage war against Me" (Rashi on Joel 4:9:1, English 3:9). At the tenth he gives the Old French koltres, colters, for the plowshares (Rashi on Joel 4:10:1, English 3:10).
The eleventh verse draws three readings of one verb in one note. Menahem reads it as hasten, and Jonathan renders it as gather. Rashi then gives his own: "I say that it is an expression of a block of iron", which is gathered together (Rashi on Joel 4:11:1, English 3:11). The sickle of the thirteenth verse he reads as the sword, spoken to "you who go on My mission to destroy the nations" (Rashi on Joel 4:13:1, English 3:13). The roar from Zion at the sixteenth verse is "Because of what they did to Zion" (Rashi on Joel 4:16:1, English 3:16).
The pairing of Egypt and Edom at the nineteenth verse he explains from Kings. When Joab stayed six months in Edom against every male there, Hadad the Edomite fled to Egypt and pleased Pharaoh. He returned to be an adversary to Solomon, so Edom survived because of Egypt. The note ends on the judgment of both: "Said the Holy One, blessed be He: I will destroy both of them" (Rashi on Joel 4:19:1, English 3:19). The last verse he reads as a pardon with one exception. "I will not cleanse them of the blood of the children of Judah". He names the time as well: "At the time the Holy One, blessed be He, dwells in Zion" (Rashi on Joel 4:21:1, English 3:21).
Rashi's other notes on the chapter are short glosses on single words and phrases. They stand at Rashi on Joel 4:3:1 (English 3:3), Rashi on Joel 4:8:1 (English 3:8), Rashi on Joel 4:15:1 (English 3:15) and Rashi on Joel 4:18:1 (English 3:18).
The corpus carries further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. They stand cited and unquoted at Ibn Ezra on Joel 4:1:1 (English 3:1), Ibn Ezra on Joel 4:3:1 (English 3:3), Ibn Ezra on Joel 4:5:1 (English 3:5) and Ibn Ezra on Joel 4:7:1 (English 3:7). They stand at Ibn Ezra on Joel 4:12:1 (English 3:12), Ibn Ezra on Joel 4:17:1 (English 3:17), Ibn Ezra on Joel 4:20:1 (English 3:20) and Radak on Joel 4:1:1 (English 3:1) as well. They stand at Radak on Joel 4:6:1 (English 3:6) as well.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries 42 rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. On Hebrew 4:2, English 3:2, it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 3:8, Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Bereshit 17 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 15:17. On Hebrew 4:3, English 3:3, it holds Eikhah Rabbah 1:46, Ein Yaakov, Gittin 1:1 and Esther Rabbah 7:11. On Hebrew 4:6, English 3:6, it holds Aggadat Bereshit 68:2, Midrash Lekach Tov on Lamentations 3:5:1 and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vayigash 11:1. On Hebrew 4:8, English 3:8, it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Pischa 12:22. On Hebrew 4:9, English 3:9, it holds Midrash Tehillim 118:12, Midrash Tehillim 8:6 and Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Prayer of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai 7.
On Hebrew 4:10, English 3:10, it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Vayehi Beshalach 1:27, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 17:13:1 and Shemot Rabbah 15:6. On Hebrew 4:11, English 3:11, it holds Shemot Rabbah 18:6. On Hebrew 4:12, English 3:12, it holds Bereshit Rabbah 82:8 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 136:1. On Hebrew 4:13, English 3:13, it holds Midrash Tehillim 62:2, Midrash Tehillim 8:1 and Pesikta Rabbati 10:1. On Hebrew 4:14, English 3:14, it holds Midrash Tehillim 111:1.
On Hebrew 4:15, English 3:15, it holds Eikhah Rabbah 1:1, Otzar Midrashim, Baraita of Samuel HaKatan 1:4 and Pesikta DeRav Kahana 15:3. On Hebrew 4:16, English 3:16, it holds Shemot Rabbah 29:9. On Hebrew 4:17, English 3:17, it holds Midrash Aggadah, Deuteronomy 3:23:3. On Hebrew 4:18, English 3:18, it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 13:2, Bamidbar Rabbah 13:20 and Bamidbar Rabbah 13:5. On Hebrew 4:19, English 3:19, it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 10:2, Bamidbar Rabbah 13:4 and Bava Kamma 119a:14.
On Hebrew 4:20, English 3:20, it holds Bereshit Rabbah 70:15, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vayigash 8:3 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 946:20. On Hebrew 4:21, English 3:21, it holds Bereshit Rabbah 82:2 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Rosh Hashanah 2:1.
Three locators stand under verse numbers the Hebrew chapters do not hold, and they are listed here as the corpus prints them. The file for Hebrew Joel 3, which has five verses, anchors Midrash Tehillim 8:6 at Joel 3:14 and Vayikra Rabbah 31:9 at Joel 3:20, the numbers of English 3:14 and 3:20. The file for Hebrew Joel 4 anchors Midrash Tanchuma, Tetzaveh 13:4 at Joel 4:38, a verse neither numbering holds. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Joel 4:2:1 to 4:21:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Joel 4:1:1, 4:3:1, 4:5:1, 4:7:1, 4:12:1, 4:17:1, 4:20:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on Joel 4:1:1, 4:6:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Rashi, Rashi on Joel 4:2:2, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/joel/4.json and 3.json, the 42 Talmud and Midrash locators of Hebrew Joel 4 and the two the file for Hebrew Joel 3 anchors past its fifth verse; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, printing no portion and no Haftarah for this chapter and no festival reading for this book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Judged in the valley of Jehoshaphat for scattering my people
Joel 3:1-3
when I restore Judah and Jerusalem: The phrase "when I restore Judah and Jerusalem from captivity" is used elsewhere of any great reversal of fortune. The name "the Valley of Jehoshaphat", used only in this chapter, means the LORD judges. The nations "bartered a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine to drink".
Joel 3:1
“In those days - When I shall by Cyrus bring Judah out of Babylon. Of Judah - As the type of the whole remnant that are saved. And Jerusalem - For beside what refers to the two tribes restored by Cyrus, the bringing back the captivity of the whole Israel of God by Christ is to be considered all along through this chapter.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
3 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Joel 3:1
“The Jews restrict this to the return from Babylon. Christians refer it to the coming of Christ. But the prophet comprises the whole redemption, beginning from the return out of Babylon, then continued from the first advent of Christ down to the last day (His second advent), when God will restore His Church to perfect felicity [CALVIN].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Joel 3:1
“It is then no wonder that the Prophet speaks so much at large of the restoration of the Church; he did so, that he might more fully confirm what would have otherwise been incredible.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
Joel 3:1
“Let my son go, the he may serve me. That in Babylon shall likewise end well. And the Lord Jesus will provide for the effectual redemption of poor enslaved souls from under the dominion of sin and Satan, and will proclaim that acceptable year, the year of jubilee, the release of debts and servants, and the opening of the prison to those that were bound.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
I will gather all the nations: Jehoshaphat means the LORD judges. Adam Clarke finds no valley of that name in the land and reads it as a symbol of God's judgment. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown add an echo of King Jehoshaphat's victory in 2 Chronicles 20.
Joel 3:2
“The valley of Jehoshaphat - There is no such valley in the land of Judea; and hence the word must be symbolical. It signifies the judgment of God, or Jehovah judgeth; and may mean some place (as Bp. Newcome imagines) where Nebuchadnezzar should gain a great battle, which would utterly discomfit the ancient enemies of the Jews, and resemble the victory which Jehoshaphat gained over the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites, 2Ch 20:22-26. And parted my land - The above nations had frequently entered into the territories of Israel; and divided among themselves the lands they had thus overrun.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Joel 3:2
“All nations - In the type it is all those nations that have oppressed Judah, in the anti-type, all nations that have been enemies to Christ and the church.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joel 3:2
“As "Jehoshaphat" means "the judgment of Jehovah," the valley of Jehoshaphat may be used as a general term for the theater of God's final judgments on Israel's foes, with an allusion to the judgment inflicted on them by Jehoshaphat.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
They cast lots for My people: Captives were divided by lot, like goods after a battle. A boy was traded for a prostitute and a girl for a drink of wine. Albert Barnes reads the lots as contempt, every captive treated as worth the same small price.
Joel 3:3
“And they have cast lots - They treated God’s people as of no account, and delighted in showing their contempt toward them. They chose no one above another, as though all alike were worthless. “They cast lots,” it is said elsewhere, “upon their honorable men” Nah 3:10, as a special indignity, above captivity or slavery. A “girl” they sold for an evening’s revelry, and a “boy” they exchanged for a night’s debauch.”
Joel 3:4-8
what do you have against Me, O Tyre: Tyre, Sidon and "all the regions of Philistia" are charged with temple robbery and slave trading, and Judah's people sold "to the Greeks". "I will swiftly and speedily return your recompense upon your heads" states measure for measure, the law Obadiah names for Edom.
Joel 3:4
“What have ye to do with me - Why have the Syrians and Sidonians joined their other enemies to oppress my people? for they who touch my people touch me. Will ye render me a recompense? - Do you think by this to avenge yourselves upon the Almighty? to retaliate upon God! Proceed, and speedily will I return your recompense; I will retaliate.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
For you took My silver and gold: The LORD calls the plundered wealth His own. Barnes reads it as the goods of God's people taken in raids, such as the Philistine raid under Jehoram at 2 Chronicles 21:16 to 17. The treasures ended in foreign temples.
Joel 3:5
“Ye have taken My silver and My gold - Not the silver and gold of the temple, (as some have thought.) At least, up to the prophet’s time, they had not done this. For the inroad of the Philistines in the reign of Jehoram was, apparently, a mere marauding expedition, in which they killed and plundered, but are not said to have besieged or taken any city, much less Jerusalem.”
You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks: The Greeks were the Ionians, descended from Javan in Genesis 10:2 to 4. Ezekiel 27:13 lists Javan among the slave dealers at Tyre. Judah's people were sold far from their homeland.
Joel 3:6
“Sold unto the Grecians - These were the descendants of Javan, Gen 10:2-5. And with them the Tyrians trafficked, Eze 27:19. That ye might remove them far from their border - Intending to send them as far off as possible, that it might be impossible for them to get back to reclaim the land of which you had dispossessed them.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 3:6
“Grecians--literally, "Javanites," that is, the Ionians, a Greek colony on the coast of Asia Minor who were the first Greeks known to the Jews. The Greeks themselves, however, in their original descent came from Javan (Ge 10:2, 4).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Behold, I will rouse them: The LORD will rouse the captives from the places where they were sold, and return the sellers' deeds on their own heads. John Wesley sees this fulfilled when Alexander and his successors freed Jewish slaves in Greece. Albert Barnes notes such a return may leave no record.
Joel 3:7
“Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them,.... That is, bring them back to their own land, from their places whither they have been carried captive, and where they have dwelt in obscurity, and as if theft had been buried in graves, but now should be raised up and restored; and this their restoration will be as life from the dead.”
2 more voices on this verse
Joel 3:7
“Behold I will raise them - If this promise relates to the same individuals who had been sold, it must have been fulfilled silently; as indeed the return of captives to their own land, unless brought about by some historical event, belongs not to history, but to private life. The prophet, however, is probably predicting God’s dealings with the nations, not with those individuals. The enslaving of these Hebrews in the time of Joram was but one instance out of a whole system of covetous misdeeds.”
Joel 3:7
“I will raise them - This was fulfilled when Alexander, and his successors dismissed all the Jews that were slaves in Greece, and gave them leave to return to their own country.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
I will sell your sons and daughters: The sentence matches the crime. The traders' own children will be sold, this time by Judah, to the Sabeans of southern Arabia. Adam Clarke cites Arrian's report that Alexander sold thirty thousand people of Tyre into slavery.
Joel 3:8
“I will sell your sons - When Alexander took Tyre, he reduced into slavery all the lower people, and the women. Arrian, lib. ii., says that thirty thousand of them were sold. Artaxerxes Ochus destroyed Sidon, and subdued the other cities of Phoenicia. In all these wars, says Calmet, the Jews, who obeyed the Persians, did not neglect to purchase Phoenician slaves, whom they sold again to the Sabeans, or Arabs.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Beat plowshares into swords; multitudes in the valley of decision
Joel 3:9-12
Proclaim this among the nations: The summons turns the peace oracle of Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3 around: "Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears". The valley's purpose is stated plainly, "there I will sit down to judge all the nations on every side".
Joel 3:9
“When the hour of God's judgment shall come effectual methods shall be taken to gather all nations to the battle of that great day of God Almighty, Rev. xvi. It seems to be here spoken ironically: " Proclaim you this among the Gentiles; let all the forces of the nations be summoned to join in confederacy against God and his people." It is like that, Isa. vii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Beat your plowshares into swords: Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3 promised swords beaten into plowshares. Joel turns the words around and tells the nations to arm with every tool they own. Albert Barnes reads the reversal as the nations' war against the peace God promised.
Joel 3:10
“Beat your plowshares into swords - Peace had been already promised, as a blessing of the gospel. “In His days,” foretold Solomon, “shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, so long as the moon endureth” Psa 72:7. And another, “He maketh thy borders peace” Psa 147:14. Peace within with God flows forth in peace with man. “Righteousness and peace kissed each other” Psa 85:10. Where there is not rest in God, all is unrest. And so, all which was needful for life, the means of subsistence, care of health, were to be forgotten for war.”
Come quickly, all you surrounding nations: The nations gather their warriors, and the prophet asks the LORD to bring down His own. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown set God's mighty ones against the self-styled mighty men of verse 9. Matthew Henry reads them as the angels.
Joel 3:11
“When they bring their forces into the field, let God bring his, let the archangel's trumpet sound a charge, to call together his mighty ones, that is, his angels. Perhaps it is with reference to this that Christ's coming from heaven at the last day is said to be with his mighty angels, 2 Thess. i.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 3:11
“Rather, Joel speaks of God's really "mighty ones" in contrast to the self-styled "mighty men" (Joe 3:9; Isa 13:3; compare Da 10:13). AUBERLEN remarks: One prophet supplements the other, for they all prophesied only "in part." What was obscure to one was revealed to the other; what is briefly described by one is more fully so by another.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Let the nations be roused: The valley becomes a courtroom, and the LORD sits as judge. Matthew Henry reads the summons as one the nations must answer whether they choose to or refuse. They gather for battle and find themselves on trial.
Joel 3:12
“It is not only, Come if you dare, but You shall come whether you will or no, for there is no escaping the judgments of God. A charge given to the ministers of God's justice to appear and act against these daring enemies of his kingdom among men: And therefore cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord!”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joel 3:13-14
Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: The commands "Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe" give judgment the harvest and winepress chapter 2 used for blessing. "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision" renames the valley, decision meaning a verdict given. The refrain "the Day of the LORD is near" sounds a last time.
Joel 3:13
“The press - As the grapes in the press are trod, so the enemies of God's people, are to be trodden in the wine-press of God's displeasure. Overflow - The blood of slaughtered men runs as wine prest out, in greater abundance than the vats can hold. Is great - The violence and all manner of sins of these kingdoms is grown exceeding great.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 3:13
“The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. And they are commanded to thrust in their sickle. their sharp sickle, and gather in both the harvest and the vintage, Rev. xiv. Note, The greatness of men's wickedness makes them ripe for God's judgment.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!: The multitudes gather in the valley of decision, where the Day of the LORD is near. The Hebrew word for decision comes from a root meaning to cut sharply, and it names a verdict. Adam Clarke renders the cry as crowds upon crowds.
Joel 3:14
“Multitudes, multitudes - המנים המנים hamonim, hamonim, crowds upon crowds, in the valley of decision, or excision: the same as the valley of Jehoshaphat, the place where God is to execute judgment on his enemies.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Joel 3:14
“The day of judgment will be the day of decision, when every man's eternal state will be determined, and the controversy that has been long depending between the kingdom of Christ and that of Satan shall be finally decided, and an end put to the struggle. The valley of the distribution of judgment (so the Chaldee), when every man shall receive according to the things done in the body.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joel 3:14
“The prophet in vision seeing the immense array of nations congregating, exclaims, "Multitudes, multitudes!" a Hebraism for immense multitudes. valley of decision--that is, the valley in which they are to meet their "determined doom." The same as "the valley of Jehoshaphat," that is, "the valley of judgment" (see on Joe 3:2).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Joel 3:15-17
The sun and moon will grow dark: The line "The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine" repeats the language of 2:10 and 2:31. "The LORD will roar from Zion", as Amos 1:2 opens, shakes heaven and earth, yet the same voice is "a refuge for His people".
Joel 3:15
“The sun and the moon shall be darkened - This may be, either that they shall be outshone by the brightness of the glory of Christ, or that they themselves shall undergo a change, whereof the darkness at the Crucifixion was an image.”
The LORD will roar from Zion: The roar that shakes heaven and earth comes from the city where the LORD dwells. Amos 1:2 opens with the same words. For His people the same voice is a refuge and a stronghold.
Joel 3:16
“The Lord also shall roar out of Zion - His temple and worship shall be reestablished there, and he will thence denounce his judgments against the nations. “The heavens and the earth shall shake.” There shall be great commotions in powerful empires and their dependencies; but in all these things his own people shall be unmoved, for God shall be their hope and strength.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 3:16
“To the wicked it will be a terrible day. The Lord shall then speak from Zion and Jerusalem, from the throne of his glory, from heaven, where he manifests himself in a peculiar manner, as sometimes he has done in the glorious high throne of his sanctuary, which yet was but a faint resemblance of the glory of that day.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
A fountain from the house of the LORD, and Judah forever
Then you will know that I am the LORD your God: The judgment ends in knowledge of God. Jerusalem is called holy, set apart to the LORD who lives there. Foreign armies will pass through it no more.
Joel 3:17
“So shall ye know - By the judgments I execute on your enemies, and the support I give to yourselves, that I am the all-conquering Jehovah; and that I have again taken up my residence in Jerusalem.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Joel 3:17
“By the sanctifying and glorifying of the church God will be known in his holiness and glory, as the God that dwells in his holy mountain and makes it holy by dwelling in it; and those that are sanctified and glorified are so through the knowledge of him that called them. The knowledge which true believers have of God is, [1.] An appropriating knowledge.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joel 3:17
“Dwelling - Very graciously present with you, and ever watching over you, and delighting to save you. Then - After her enemies are destroyed and the remnant is saved, and the Messiah is come; for to him and his days these things ultimately refer. Jerusalem - The church of Christ.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joel 3:18-21
the mountains will drip with sweet wine: The book ends in plenty, "the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk". The words "a spring will flow from the house of the LORD" anticipate Ezekiel 47 and Zechariah 14:8. The last words are "For the LORD dwells in Zion".
Joel 3:18
“In that day - After their return from their captivities. The mountains shall drop down new wine - A poetic expression for great fertility. Happy times: peace and plenty. The vines shall grow luxuriantly on the sides of the mountains; and the hills shall produce such rich pastures that the flocks shall yield abundance of milk. And all the rivers of Judah - Far from being generally dry in the summer, shall have their channels always full of water.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 3:18
“This no doubt is a shadow of the purifying blood of Christ, and his sanctifying spirit and word. And in that it is said to come from the house of the Lord, it intimates that this saving grace shall be first preached from Jerusalem, and by the church, which is the house of God, shall be published to others.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Egypt will become desolate: Albert Barnes reads Egypt and Edom as two classes of enemy that together stand for all the rest. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown recall Shishak's plunder of Jerusalem under Rehoboam. The charge is innocent blood shed in Judah's land.
Joel 3:19
“Egypt shall be a desolation - “Egypt” and “Edom” represent each a different class of enemies of the people of God, and both together exhibit the lot of all. Egypt was the powerful oppressor, who kept Israel long time in hard bondage, and tried, by the murder of their male children, to extirpate them.”
2 more voices on this verse
Joel 3:19
“No strength nor wealth of a nation is a defence against the judgment of God. But what is the quarrel God has with these potent kingdoms? It is for their violence against the children of Judah, and the injuries they had done them; see Ezek. xxv.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joel 3:19
“Egypt under Shishak spoiled Jerusalem under Rehoboam of the treasures of the temple and the king's house; subsequently to the captivity, it inflicted under the Ptolemies various injuries on Judea. Antiochus spoiled Egypt (Da 11:40-43). Edom was made "desolate" under the Maccabees [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 12.11,12].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
But Judah will be inhabited forever: Egypt and Edom become waste. Judah is lived in to the last generation, and Matthew Henry reads in it the church lasting to the end of time. Adam Clarke allows it may also reach a final return of the Jewish people to Jerusalem.
Joel 3:20
“But Judah shall dwell for ever - The true Church of Christ shall be supported, while all false and persecuting Churches shall be annihilated. The promise may also belong to the full and final restoration of the Jews, when they shall dwell at Jerusalem as a distinct people professing the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 3:20
“This is a promise, and a precious promise it is, (1.) That the church of Christ shall continue in the world to the end of time. As one generation of professing Christians passes away, another shall come, in whom the throne of Christ shall endure for ever, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
For I will avenge their blood: The LORD will avenge the blood of His people and dwell in Zion. Older English versions read cleanse, and Albert Barnes takes the Hebrew word to mean to declare free from guilt. The book closes on the LORD dwelling in Zion.
Joel 3:21
“Here, though they are washing daily, there is still something that is not cleansed; but in heaven, even that also shall be done away. And the reason is because the Lord dwells in Zion, dwells with his church, and much more gloriously with that in heaven, and holiness becomes his house for ever, for which reason, where he dwells there must be, there shall be, a perfection of holiness.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Joel 3:21
“And I will cleanse - Purge away both by the spirit of sanctification and by free pardon in the blood of the redeemer. Their blood - Their sinfulness, which before I had not taken away.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The LORD judges | Jehoshaphat means the LORD judges, and the valley is named for what happens in it. Verse 14 names the same place again as the valley of decision. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the name as a general term for the scene of God's final judgments on Israel's foes.Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on Joel 3:2. | Joel 3:2, Joel 3:12, Joel 3:14 |
How this chapter is built
1 more paragraph on the patterns
The chapter is set as a trial in three parts. Verses 1 to 8 bring the charges, the scattering of God's people and the trade in their children, with a sentence that answers the crime in kind. Verses 9 to 17 summon the nations to arm and gather in the valley, where the LORD sits to judge and roars from Zion. Verses 18 to 21 close the book on the land healed and the LORD dwelling in Zion.
Keep studying
People and groups1
Words12
Subjects1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.