New English Translation
Joel 1:2
2Listen to this, you elders; pay attention, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life or in the lifetime of your ancestors?
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
1This is the Lord’s message that was given to Joel the son of Pethuel: Listen to this, you elders; pay attention, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life or in the lifetime of your ancestors? 3Tell your children about it, have your children tell their children, and their children the following generation. 4What the gazam-locust left the ‘arbeh-locust consumed, what the ‘arbeh-locust left the yeleq-locust consumed, and what the yeleq-locust left the hasil-locust consumed!
Read all of Joel 1Joel 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 49:1Listen to this, all you nations! Pay attention, all you inhabitants of the world!
- Isaiah 34:1Come near, you nations, and listen! Pay attention, you people! The earth and everything it contains must listen, the world and everything that lives in it.
- Jeremiah 5:21Tell them: ‘Hear this, you foolish people who have no understanding, who have eyes but do not discern, who have ears but do not perceive:
- Hosea 5:1Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, you Israelites! Listen closely, O king! For judgment is about to overtake you! For you were like a trap to Mizpah, like a net spread out to catch Tabor.
- Amos 3:1Listen, you Israelites, to this message which the Lord is proclaiming against you! This message is for the entire clan I brought up from the land of Egypt:
- Amos 4:1Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan who live on Mount Samaria! You oppress the poor; you crush the needy. You say to your husbands, “Bring us more to drink!”
- Amos 5:1Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, family of Israel:
- Micah 1:2Listen, all you nations! Pay attention, all inhabitants of earth! The sovereign Lord will testify against you; the Lord will accuse you from his majestic palace.
- Micah 3:1I said, “Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the nation of Israel! You ought to know what is just,
- Matthew 13:9The one who has ears had better listen!”
- Revelation 2:7The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will permit him to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.’
- Job 8:8“For inquire now of the former generation, and pay attention to the findings of their ancestors;
- Job 12:12Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?
- Job 15:10The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men far older than your father.
- Job 21:7“Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, even increase in power?
- Joel 2:2It will be a day of dreadful darkness, a day of foreboding storm clouds, like blackness spread over the mountains. It is a huge and powerful army – there has never been anything like it ever before, and there will not be anything like it for many 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
In the dictionaries
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
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