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Tuesday, July 8th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Joel 1:1

God 's Message to Joel son of Pethuel: Attention, elder statesmen! Listen closely, everyone, whoever and wherever you are! Have you ever heard of anything like this? Has anything like this ever happened before—ever? Make sure you tell your children, and your children tell their children, And their children their children. Don't let this message die out.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Joel;   Nation;   Pethuel;   Scofield Reference Index - Day (of Jehovah);   Joel;   Thompson Chain Reference - Leaders;   Prophets;   Religious;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Prophets;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Word;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Pethuel;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Joel;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Joel, Book of;   Pethuel;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Gods;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Joel ;   Pethuel ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Famine;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Scripture;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Pethu'el;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Judah;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Joel (1);   Pethuel;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Zephaniah;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel:
Hebrew Names Version
The Word of the LORD that came to Yo'el, the son of Petu'el.
King James Version
The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
English Standard Version
The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
New American Standard Bible
The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
New Century Version
The Lord spoke his word to Joel son of Pethuel:
Amplified Bible
The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The worde of the Lorde that came to Ioel the sonne of Pethuel.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
Legacy Standard Bible
The word of Yahweh that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
Berean Standard Bible
This is the word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel:
Contemporary English Version
I am Joel the son of Pethuel. And this is the message the Lord gave to me.
Complete Jewish Bible
The word of Adonai that came to Yo'el the son of P'tu'el:
Darby Translation
The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
Easy-to-Read Version
Joel son of Pethuel received this message from the Lord :
George Lamsa Translation
THE word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Bethuel:
Good News Translation
This is the Lord 's message to Joel son of Pethuel.
Lexham English Bible
The word of Yahweh that came to Joel son of Pethuel.
Literal Translation
The Word of Jehovah that was to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
American Standard Version
The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
Bible in Basic English
The word of the Lord which came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
King James Version (1611)
The word of the Lord that came to Ioel the sonne of Pethuel.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The worde of the Lorde that came to Ioel the sonne of Pethuel.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
The word of the Lord which came to Joel the son of Bathuel.
English Revised Version
The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
World English Bible
The Word of Yahweh that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The word of the Lord is this, that was maad to Joel, the sone of Phatuel.
Update Bible Version
The word of Yahweh that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
Webster's Bible Translation
The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
New English Translation
This is the Lord 's message that was given to Joel the son of Pethuel:
New King James Version
The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
New Living Translation
The Lord gave this message to Joel son of Pethuel.
New Life Bible
This is the word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.
New Revised Standard
The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel:
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The word of Yahweh, which came unto Joel, son of Pethuel.
Douay-Rheims Bible
The word of the Lord, that came to Joel, the son of Phatuel.
Revised Standard Version
The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethu'el:
Young's Literal Translation
A word of Jehovah that hath been unto Joel, son of Pethuel:
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
This is the worde of the LORDE, that came vnto Ioel the sonne of Phatuel:

Contextual Overview

1 God 's Message to Joel son of Pethuel: Attention, elder statesmen! Listen closely, everyone, whoever and wherever you are! Have you ever heard of anything like this? Has anything like this ever happened before—ever? Make sure you tell your children, and your children tell their children, And their children their children. Don't let this message die out. 4 What the chewing locust left, the gobbling locust ate; What the gobbling locust left, the munching locust ate; What the munching locust left, the chomping locust ate. 5Sober up, you drunks! Get in touch with reality—and weep! Your supply of booze is cut off. You're on the wagon, like it or not. My country's being invaded by an army invincible, past numbering, Teeth like those of a lion, fangs like those of a tiger. It has ruined my vineyards, stripped my orchards, And clear-cut the country. The landscape's a moonscape.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

word: Jeremiah 1:2, Ezekiel 1:3, Hosea 1:1, 2 Peter 1:21

to: Acts 2:16

Cross-References

Genesis 1:11
God spoke: "Earth, green up! Grow all varieties of seed-bearing plants, Every sort of fruit-bearing tree." And there it was. Earth produced green seed-bearing plants, all varieties, And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts. God saw that it was good. It was evening, it was morning— Day Three.
Genesis 1:16
God made two big lights, the larger to take charge of Day, The smaller to be in charge of Night; and he made the stars. God placed them in the heavenly sky to light up Earth And oversee Day and Night, to separate light and dark. God saw that it was good. It was evening, it was morning— Day Four.
Genesis 1:20
God spoke: "Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life! Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!" God created the huge whales, all the swarm of life in the waters, And every kind and species of flying birds. God saw that it was good. God blessed them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean! Birds, reproduce on Earth!" It was evening, it was morning— Day Five.
Exodus 31:18
When he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses two tablets of Testimony, slabs of stone, written with the finger of God.
Nehemiah 9:6
Then on the twenty-fourth day of this month, the People of Israel gathered for a fast, wearing burlap and faces smudged with dirt as signs of repentance. The Israelites broke off all relations with foreigners, stood up, and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their parents. While they stood there in their places, they read from the Book of The Revelation of God , their God, for a quarter of the day. For another quarter of the day they confessed and worshiped their God . A group of Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Kenani—stood on the platform and cried out to God , their God, in a loud voice. The Levites Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, "On your feet! Bless God , your God, for ever and ever!" Blessed be your glorious name, exalted above all blessing and praise! You're the one, God , you alone; You made the heavens, the heavens of heavens, and all angels; The earth and everything on it, the seas and everything in them; You keep them all alive; heaven's angels worship you!
Psalms 8:3
I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry, Moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, Why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?
Psalms 33:6
The skies were made by God 's command; he breathed the word and the stars popped out. He scooped Sea into his jug, put Ocean in his keg.
Psalms 104:24
What a wildly wonderful world, God ! You made it all, with Wisdom at your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations. Oh, look—the deep, wide sea, brimming with fish past counting, sardines and sharks and salmon. Ships plow those waters, and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them. All the creatures look expectantly to you to give them their meals on time. You come, and they gather around; you open your hand and they eat from it. If you turned your back, they'd die in a minute— Take back your Spirit and they die, revert to original mud; Send out your Spirit and they spring to life— the whole countryside in bloom and blossom.
Psalms 124:8
God 's strong name is our help, the same God who made heaven and earth.
Proverbs 3:19
With Lady Wisdom, God formed Earth; with Madame Insight, he raised Heaven. They knew when to signal rivers and springs to the surface, and dew to descend from the night skies.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. Who this Pethuel was is not known; Jarchi takes him to be the same with Samuel the prophet, who had a son of this name, 1 Samuel 8:2; and gives this reason for his being called Pethuel, because in his prayer he persuaded God; but the long span of time will by no means admit of this, nor the character of Samuel's son agree with Joel; and therefore is rightly denied by Aben Ezra, who observes, however, that this man was an honourable man, and therefore his name is mentioned; and gives this as a rule, that whenever any prophet mentions the name of his father, he was honourable. Perhaps, it is here observed, to distinguish him from another of the same name; and there was one of this name, Joel, a high priest in the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham, according to Seder Olam Zuta i and Abarbinel k; in whose time Joel is by some thought to prophesy.

i Fol. 104. k In Meyer. Anotat. in ib. p, 626.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The word of the Lord that came to Joel - Joel, like Hosea, mentions the name of his father only, and then is silent about his extraction, his tribe, his family. He leaves even the time when he lived, to be guessed at. He would be known only, as the instrument of God. “The word of the Lord came to” him (see the note at Hosea 1:1), and he willed simply to be the voice which uttered it. He was “content to live under the eyes of God, and, as to people, to be known only in what concerned their salvation.” But this he declares absolutely, that the Word of God came to him; in order that we may give faith to his prophecy, being well assured that what he predicted, would come to pass. So the Saviour Himself says, ““My words shall not pass away” Matthew 24:35. For truth admits of nothing false, and what God saith, will certainly be. For “He confirmeth the word of His servant, and performeth the counsel of His messengers” Isaiah 44:26. The prophet claimeth belief then, as speaking not out of his own heart, but out of the mouth of the Lord speaking in the Spirit.” Joel signifies, “The Lord is God.” It owns that God who had revealed Himself, is alone the God. The prophet’s name itself, embodied the truth, which, after the miraculous answer to Elijah’s prayer, all the people confessed, “The Lord He is the God, The Lord He is the God.” Pethuel signifies, “persuaded of God.” The addition of his father’s name distinguished the prophet from others of that name, as the son of Samuel, of king Uzziah, and others.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JOEL

Chronological Notes relative to the commencement of Joel's

prophesying, upon the supposition that this event took place

about six hundred and ninety years before the commencement of

the Christian era.

-Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3314.

-Year of the Julian Period, 4024.

-Year since the Flood, 1658.

-Year from the foundation of Solomon's temple, 322.

-Year since the division of Solomon's monarchy into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 285.

-Year since the extinction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, 31.

-Third year of the twenty-second Olympiad.

-Year from the building of Rome, according to the Varronian computation, 64.

-Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 690.

-Cycle of the Sun, 20.

-Cycle of the Moon, 15.

-Third year of Eryxias, the last decennial archon of the Athenians.

-First year of Anaxidamus, king of Lacedaemon, of the family of the Proclidae.

-Thirty-fifth year of Eurycrates I., king of Lacedaemon, of the family of the Eurysthenidae.

-Eleventh year of Deioces, the first king of the Medes.

-Fortieth year of Perdiccas I., king of Macedon.

-Twenty-ninth year of Gyges, king of Lydia.

-Ninth year of Manasseh, king of Judah.

CHAPTER I

This and the beginning of the next chapter contain a double

prophecy, applicable in its primary sense to a plague of

locusts which was to devour the land, and to be accompanied

with a severe drought and famine; and in its secondary sense

it denotes the Chaldean invasion. Both senses must be admitted:

for some of the expressions will apply only to the dearth by

insects; others to the desolation by war. The contexture of

both is beautiful and well conducted. In this chapter the

distress of every order of people is strongly painted; and not

only does the face of nature languish when the God of nature

is displeased, 1-19;

but the very beasts of the field, by a bold figure, are

represented as supplicating God in their distress, and

reproaching the stupidity of man, 20.

NOTES ON CHAP. I

Verse Joel 1:1. The word of the Lord that came to Joel — See the introduction for some account of this prophet, whose history is very obscure. Bishop Newcome thinks that he prophesied while the kingdom of Judah subsisted, and refers to Joel 2:1; Joel 2:15, (see also Joel 1:14, and the note there,) but not long before its subversion as his words, Joel 3:1, seem to imply that its captivity was approaching. See 2 Kings 21:10-15. He therefore favours the conjecture of Drusius, that this prophet lived under Manasseh, and before his conversion, 2 Chronicles 33:13; that is, some time from before Christ 697 to (suppose) 660.


 
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