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 Lord gave this message to Joel son of Pethuel. Hear this, you leaders of the people. Listen, all who live in the land. In all your history, has anything like this happened before? 3Tell your children about it in the years to come, and let your children tell their children. Pass the story down from generation to generation. 4After the cutting locusts finished eating the crops, the swarming locusts took what was left! After them came the hopping locusts, and then the stripping locusts, too!

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 49:1Listen to this, all you people! Pay attention, everyone in the world!
• Isaiah 34:1Come here and listen, O nations of the earth. Let the world and everything in it hear my words.
• Jeremiah 5:21Listen, you foolish and senseless people, with eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear.
• Hosea 5:1“Hear this, you priests. Pay attention, you leaders of Israel. Listen, you members of the royal family. Judgment has been handed down against you. For you have led the people into a snare by worshiping the idols at Mizpah and Tabor.
• Amos 3:1Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel—against the entire family I rescued from Egypt:
• Amos 4:1Listen to me, you fat cows living in Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, and who are always calling to your husbands, “Bring us another drink!”
• Amos 5:1Listen, you people of Israel! Listen to this funeral song I am singing:
• Micah 1:2Attention! Let all the people of the world listen! Let the earth and everything in it hear. The Sovereign Lord is making accusations against you; the Lord speaks from his holy Temple.
• Micah 3:1I said, “Listen, you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong,
• Matthew 13:9Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”
• Revelation 2:7“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God.
• Job 8:8“Just ask the previous generation. Pay attention to the experience of our ancestors.
• Job 12:12Wisdom belongs to the aged, and understanding to the old.
• Job 15:10On our side are aged, gray-haired men much older than your father!
• Job 21:7“Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?
• Joel 2:2It is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of thick clouds and deep blackness. Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains, a great and mighty army appears. Nothing like it has been seen before or will ever be seen again.

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