Joel 1:2

Joel 1:2 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
• New International Version (NIV)Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors?
• English Standard Version (ESV)Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
• New King James Version (NKJV)Hear this, you elders, And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything like this happened in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers?

Context of Joel 1:2

1The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel: Hear this, you elders; listen, all you inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors? 3Tell your children about it, and let your children tell their children, and their children the next generation. 4What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.

Joel 1:2 word by word

שִׁמְעוּ־זֹאת֙ הַזְּקֵנִ֔ים וְהַֽאֲזִ֔ינוּ כֹּ֖ל יוֹשְׁבֵ֣י הָאָ֑רֶץ הֶהָ֤יְתָה זֹּאת֙ בִּֽימֵיכֶ֔ם וְאִ֖ם בִּימֵ֥י אֲבֹֽתֵיכֶֽם׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Hearשָׁמַעshâma‛ · to hear: hearH8085
• this, ye old menזָקֵןzâqên · old: elderH2205
• and give earאָזַן'âzan · to listenH238
• all ye inhabitantsיָשַׁבyâshab · to dwellH3427
• of the landאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
• Hath this been in your daysיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• or evenאִם'im · ifH518
• of your fathersאָב'âb · fatherH1

Cross-references for Joel 1:2

• Psalms 49:1Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who inhabit the world,
• Isaiah 34:1You nations, come here and listen; you peoples, pay attention! Let the earth and all that fills it hear, the world and all that comes from it.
• Jeremiah 5:21Hear this, you foolish and senseless people. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They have ears, but they don’t hear.
• Hosea 5:1Hear this, priests! Pay attention, house of Israel! Listen, royal house! For the judgment applies to you because you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread out on Tabor.
• Amos 3:1Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, Israelites, against the entire clan that I brought from the land of Egypt:
• Amos 4:1Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan who are on the hill of Samaria, women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to their husbands, “Bring us something to drink.”
• Amos 5:1Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament, house of Israel:
• Micah 1:2Listen, all you peoples; pay attention, earth and everyone in it! The Lord God will be a witness against you, the Lord, from his holy temple.
• Micah 3:1Then I said, “Now listen, leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Aren’t you supposed to know what is just?
• Matthew 13:9Let anyone who has ears listen.”
• Revelation 2:7“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
• Job 8:8For ask the previous generation, and pay attention to what their ancestors discovered,
• Job 12:12Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.
• Job 15:10Both the gray-haired and the elderly are with us— older than your father.
• Job 21:7Why do the wicked continue to live, growing old and becoming powerful?
• Joel 2:2a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and total darkness, like the dawn spreading over the mountains; a great and strong people appears, such as never existed in ages past and never will again in all the generations to come.

Commentaries on Joel 1:2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2Ye old men - Instead of הזקנים hazzekenim old men, a few MSS. have הכהנים haccohanim, ye priests, but improperly. Hath this been in your days - He begins very abruptly; and before he proposes his subject, excites attention and alarm by intimating that he is about to announce disastrous events, such as the oldest man among them has never seen, nor any of them learnt from the histories of ancient times.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2Hear this, ye old men - By reason of their age they had known and heard much; they had heard from their fathers, and their father‘s fathers, much which they had not known themselves. Among the people of the east, memories of past times were handed down from generation to generation, for periods, which to us would seem incredible. Israel was commanded, so to transmit the vivid memories of the miracles of God. The prophet appeals “to the old men, to hear,”…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2Hear this: Joel called the people to pay close attention to the prophecy. elders: The prophet asked the community elders if anything like this had happened before. It had not. This disaster was unique in the history of God's people.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2-32-3. A spirited introduction calling attention. old men--the best judges in question concerning the past (De 32:7; Job 32:7). Hath this been, &c.--that is, Hath any so grievous a calamity as this ever been before? No such plague of locusts had been since the ones in Egypt. Ex 10:14 is not at variance with this verse, which refers to Judea, in which Joel says there had been no such devastation before.Read the comment

Topics related to Joel 1:2

• Nation

In the dictionaries

• Joel (2)
• Joel

Commentaries on Joel 1

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings