Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
24 How many living things you have made, O Lord![a]
You have exhibited great skill in making all of them;[b]
the earth is full of the living things you have made.
25 Over here is the deep, wide sea,[c]
which teems with innumerable swimming creatures,[d]
living things both small and large.
26 The ships travel there,
and over here swims the whale[e] you made to play in it.
27 All your creatures[f] wait for you
to provide them with food on a regular basis.[g]
28 You give food to them and they receive it;
you open your hand and they are filled with food.[h]
29 When you ignore them, they panic.[i]
When you take away their life’s breath,
they die and return to dust.
30 When you send your life-giving breath, they are created,
and you replenish the surface of the ground.
31 May the splendor of the Lord endure.[j]
May the Lord find pleasure in the living things he has made.[k]
32 He looks down on the earth and it shakes;
he touches the mountains and they start to smolder.
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist.[l]
34 May my thoughts[m] be pleasing to him.
I will rejoice in the Lord.
Footnotes
- Psalm 104:24 tn Heb “How many [are] your works, O Lord.” In this case the Lord’s “works” are the creatures he has made, as the preceding and following contexts make clear.
- Psalm 104:24 tn Heb “all of them with wisdom you have made.”
- Psalm 104:25 tn Heb “this [is] the sea, great and broad of hands [i.e., “sides” or “shores”].”
- Psalm 104:25 tn Heb “where [there are] swimming things, and without number.”
- Psalm 104:26 tn Heb “[and] this Leviathan, [which] you formed to play in it.” Elsewhere Leviathan is a multiheaded sea monster that symbolizes forces hostile to God (see Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1), but here it appears to be an actual marine creature created by God, probably some type of whale.
- Psalm 104:27 tn Heb “All of them.” The pronoun “them” refers not just to the sea creatures mentioned in vv. 25-26, but to all living things (see v. 24). This has been specified in the translation as “all of your creatures” for clarity.
- Psalm 104:27 tn Heb “to give their food in its time.”
- Psalm 104:28 tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] good.”
- Psalm 104:29 tn Heb “you hide your face, they are terrified.”
- Psalm 104:31 tn Heb “be forever.”
- Psalm 104:31 tn Or “rejoice in his works.”
- Psalm 104:33 tn Heb “in my duration.”
- Psalm 104:34 tn That is, the psalmist’s thoughts as expressed in his songs of praise.
35 May sinners disappear[a] from the earth,
and the wicked vanish.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord.
Footnotes
- Psalm 104:35 tn Or “be destroyed.”
The Lord’s Response
18 Then the Lord became zealous[a] for his land;
he had compassion on his people.
19 The Lord responded[b] to his people,
“Look! I am about to restore your grain[c]
as well as fresh wine and olive oil.
You will be fully satisfied.[d]
I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.
20 I will remove the one from the north[e] far from you.
I will drive him out to a dry and desolate place.
Those in front will be driven eastward into the Dead Sea,[f]
and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea.[g]
His stench will rise up as a foul smell.”[h]
Indeed, the Lord[i] has accomplished great things!
21 Do not fear, my land.
Rejoice and be glad,
because the Lord has accomplished great things!
22 Do not fear, wild animals.[j]
For the pastures of the wilderness are again green with grass.
Indeed, the trees bear their fruit;
the fig tree and the vine yield to their fullest.[k]
23 Citizens of Zion,[l] rejoice!
Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done![m]
For he has given to you the early rains[n] as vindication.
He has sent[o] to you the rains—
both the early and the late rains[p] as formerly.
24 The threshing floors are full of grain;
the vats overflow with fresh wine and olive oil.
25 I will make up for the years[q]
that the ‘arbeh-locust[r] consumed your crops[s]—
the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust—
my great army[t] that I sent against you.
26 You will have plenty to eat,
and your hunger will be fully satisfied;[u]
you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has acted wondrously in your behalf.
My people will never again be put to shame.
27 You will be convinced that I am in the midst of Israel.
I am the Lord your God; there is no other.
My people will never again be put to shame.
An Outpouring of the Spirit
28 (3:1)[v] After all of this[w]
I will pour out my Spirit[x] on all kinds of people.[y]
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your elderly will have prophetic dreams;[z]
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on male and female servants
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
Footnotes
- Joel 2:18 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, NASB), 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.
- Joel 2:19 tn Heb “answered and said.”
- Joel 2:19 tn Heb “Look! I am sending grain to you.” The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to suggest imminent action.
- Joel 2:19 tc One of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXIIc) inserts “and you will eat” before “and you will be fully satisfied,” the latter phrase being the reading of the MT and LXX.
- Joel 2:20 sn The allusion to the one from the north is best understood as having locusts in view. It is not correct to say that this reference to the enemy who came form the north excludes the possibility of a reference to locusts and must be understood as human armies. Although locust plagues usually approached Palestine from the east or southeast, the severe plague of 1915, for example, came from the northeast.
- Joel 2:20 tn Heb “his face to the eastern sea.” In this context the eastern sea is probably the Dead Sea.
- Joel 2:20 tn Heb “and his rear to the western sea.” The western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea.
- Joel 2:20 sn Heb “and his foul smell will ascend.” The foul smell probably refers to the unpleasant odor of decayed masses of dead locusts. The Hebrew word for “foul smell” is found only here in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word for “stench” appears only here and in Isa 34:3 and Amos 4:10. In the latter references it refers to the stench of dead corpses on a field of battle.
- Joel 2:20 tn The Hebrew text does not have “the Lord.” Two interpretations are possible. This clause may refer to the enemy described in the immediately preceding verses, in which case it would have a negative sense: “he has acted in a high-handed manner.” Or it may refer to the Lord, in which case it would have a positive sense: “the Lord has acted in a marvelous manner.” This is clearly the sense of the same expression in v. 21, where in fact “the Lord” appears as the subject of the verb. It seems best to understand the clause the same way in both verses.
- Joel 2:22 tn Heb “beasts of the field.”
- Joel 2:22 tn Heb “their strength.” The trees and vines will produce a maximum harvest, in contrast to the failed agricultural conditions previously described.
- Joel 2:23 tn Heb “sons of Zion.”
- Joel 2:23 tn Heb “be glad in the Lord your God.”
- Joel 2:23 tn Normally the Hebrew word הַמּוֹרֶה (hammoreh) means “the teacher,” but here and in Ps 84:7 it refers to “early rains.” Elsewhere the word for “early rains” is יוֹרֶה (yoreh). The phrase here הַמּוֹרֶה לִצְדָקָה (hammoreh litsdaqah) is similar to the expression “teacher of righteousness” (Heb., מוֹרֶה הַצֶּדֶק, moreh hatsedeq) found in the Dead Sea Scrolls referring to a particular charismatic leader, although the Qumran community seems not to have invoked this text in support of that notion.
- Joel 2:23 tn Heb “caused to come down.”
- Joel 2:23 sn For half the year Palestine is generally dry. The rainy season begins with the early rains usually in late October to early December, followed by the latter rains in March and April. Without these rains productive farming would not be possible, as Joel’s original readers knew only too well.
- Joel 2:25 tn Heb “I will restore to you the years.”sn The plural years suggests that the plague to which Joel refers was not limited to a single season. Apparently the locusts were a major problem over several successive years. One season of drought and locust invasion would have been bad enough. Several such years would have been devastating.
- Joel 2:25 sn The same four terms for locust are used here as in 1:4, but in a different order. This fact creates some difficulty for the notion that the four words refer to four distinct stages of locust development.
- Joel 2:25 tn The term “your crops” does not appear in the Hebrew but has been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.
- Joel 2:25 sn Here Joel employs military language to describe the locusts. In the prophet’s thinking this invasion was far from being a freak accident. Rather, the Lord is pictured here as a divine warrior who leads his army into the land as a punishment for past sin and as a means of bringing about spiritual renewal on the part of the people.
- Joel 2:26 tn Heb “you will surely eat and be satisfied.”
- Joel 2:28 sn Beginning with 2:28, the verse numbers through 3:21 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 2:28 ET = 3:1 HT, 2:29 ET = 3:2 HT, 2:30 ET = 3:3 HT, 2:31 ET = 3:4 HT, 2:32 ET = 3:5 HT, 3:1 ET = 4:1 HT, etc., through 3:21 ET = 4:21 HT. Thus Joel in the Hebrew Bible has 4 chapters, the 5 verses of ch. 3 being included at the end of ch. 2 in the English Bible.
- Joel 2:28 tn Heb “Now it will be after this.”
- Joel 2:28 sn This passage plays a key role in the apostolic explanation of the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2:17-21. Peter introduces his quotation of this passage with “this is that spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:16; cf. the similar pesher formula used at Qumran). The New Testament events at Pentecost are thus seen in some sense as a fulfillment of this Old Testament passage, even though that experience did not exhaustively fulfill Joel’s words. Some portions of Joel’s prophecy have no precise counterpart in that experience. For example, there is nothing in the events recorded in Acts 2 that exactly corresponds to the earthly and heavenly signs described in Joel 3:3-4. But inasmuch as the messianic age had already begun and the “last days” had already commenced with the coming of the Messiah (cf. Heb 1:1-2), Peter was able to point to Joel 3:1-5 as a text that was relevant to the advent of Jesus and the bestowal of the Spirit. The equative language that Peter employs (“this is that”) stresses an incipient fulfillment of the Joel passage without precluding or minimizing a yet future and more exhaustive fulfillment in events associated with the return of Christ.
- Joel 2:28 tn Heb “all flesh.” As a term for humanity, “flesh” suggests the weakness and fragility of human beings as opposed to God, who is “spirit.” The word “all” refers not to all human beings without exception (cf. NAB, NASB “all mankind,” NLT “all people”), but to all classes of human beings without distinction (cf. NCV).
- Joel 2:28 tn Heb “your old men will dream dreams.” In context these are prophetic visions, messages from God, as are the visions mentioned in the next line.
18 For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared[a] to the coming glory that will be revealed to us. 19 For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly but because of God[b] who subjected it—in hope 21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now. 23 Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,[c] groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption,[d] the redemption of our bodies.[e] 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees?
Footnotes
- Romans 8:18 tn Grk “are not worthy [to be compared].”
- Romans 8:20 tn Grk “because of the one”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Romans 8:23 tn Or “who have the Spirit as firstfruits.” The genitive πνεύματος (pneumatos) can be understood here as possessive (“the firstfruits belonging to the Spirit”) although it is much more likely that this is a genitive of apposition (“the firstfruits, namely, the Spirit”); cf. TEV, NLT.
- Romans 8:23 tn See the note on “adoption” in v. 15.
- Romans 8:23 tn Grk “body.”
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