Passage

Joel 2.18

Book: Joel

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"16. gather the people, sanctify the assembly, assemble the old men, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17. Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Jehovah, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?"

"18. Then was Jehovah jealous for his land, and had pity on his people."

"19. And Jehovah answered and said unto his people, Behold, I will send you grain, and new wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations; 20. but I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive it into a land barren and desolate, its forepart into the eastern sea, and its hinder part into the western sea; and its stench shall come up, and its ill savor shall come up, because it hath done great things." (Joel 2:16-20, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"16. Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts. Let the bridegroom go out of his room, and the bride out of her room. 17. Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare your people, Yahweh, and don’t give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”"

"18. Then Yahweh was jealous for his land, And had pity on his people."

"19. Yahweh answered his people, “Behold, I will send you grain, new wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied with them; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. 20. But I will remove the northern army far away from you, and will drive it into a barren and desolate land, its front into the eastern sea, and its back into the western sea; and its stench will come up, and its bad smell will rise.” Surely he has done great things." (Joel 2:16-20, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"16. Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17. Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? ^{rule over: or, use a byword against}"

"18. Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people."

"19. Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen: 20. But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things. ^{hath: Heb. hath magnified to do}" (Joel 2:16-20, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"16. Gather the people, sanctify an assembly, Assemble the aged, Gather infants and sucklings of the breasts, Go out let a bridegroom from his inner chamber, And a bride out of her closet. 17. Between the porch and the altar weep let the priests, ministrants of Jehovah, And let them say: 'Have pity, O Jehovah, on Thy people, And give not Thy inheritance to reproach, To the ruling over them of nations, Why do they say among peoples, Where [is] their God?'"

"18. And let Jehovah be zealous for His land, And have pity on His people."

"19. Let Jehovah answer and say to His people, 'Lo, I am sending to you the corn, And the new wine, and the oil, And ye have been satisfied with it, And I make you no more a reproach among nations, 20. And the northern I put far off from you, And have driven him unto a land dry and desolate, With his face unto the eastern sea, And his rear unto the western sea, And come up hath his stink, And come up doth his stench, For he hath exerted himself to work." (Joel 2:16-20, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: the prophet Joel narrating YHWH's covenant-response to Israel's repentance
Audience: Judah, summoned to corporate fast and assembly in the face of devastating locust plague and military threat
Location: Judah / Jerusalem
Time period: disputed (anywhere from c. 835 to c. 400 BC); the prophecy operates across multiple eschatological horizons

Theological reading

Joel 2:18 is the structural pivot of the book, the turn from indictment-and-call-to-repentance (chs. 1-2:17) to restoration-and-eschatological-blessing (2:18-3:21). The verb qinneʾ (Piel of [[H7065 - qana|qana]]) names YHWH's positive-protective zeal deployed on behalf of His people. This is the canonical OT verse for the restoration-direction deployment of qana: the same divine attribute that judges covenant-breaking also moves God to spare and restore the covenant people. The verse follows the priestly intercession of v. 17 ("spare thy people, O Jehovah"), the divine qana is the response to mediated covenant-pleading. The verse pairs qinneʾ with chamal ("had pity"), making explicit that biblical divine-jealousy is protective covenant-love that takes the covenant seriously enough to act on either side of the violation-line, judgment when the covenant is broken; pity when the people repent. The verse stands alongside Zech 1:14 and Zech 8:2 in the positive-restoration-zeal cluster that grounds the apologetic equivocation-defeater (see H7065 - qana §"Apologetic deployment"): the New Atheist polemic reads divine qana exclusively in the punitive register; the OT itself shows the same attribute as the source of God's restoring mercy.

Key words

H7065 - qana, qana / qinneʾ (Strong's H7065). The verbal root in the Piel, "to be jealous-for."
H7068 - qinah, qinʾah (Strong's H7068). The cognate noun.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.