Lectionary Calendar
Monday, July 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

New Living Translation

Joel 1:1

The Lord gave this message to Joel son of Pethuel.

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 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:
THE MESSAGE
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.

Contextual Overview

1 The Lord gave this message to Joel son of Pethuel. 2 Hear this, you leaders of the people. Listen, all who live in the land. In all your history, has anything like this happened before? 3 Tell your children about it in the years to come, and let your children tell their children. Pass the story down from generation to generation. 4 After 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! 5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you wine-drinkers! All the grapes are ruined, and all your sweet wine is gone. 6 A vast army of locusts has invaded my land, a terrible army too numerous to count. Its teeth are like lions' teeth, its fangs like those of a lioness. 7 It has destroyed my grapevines and ruined my fig trees, stripping their bark and destroying it, leaving the branches white and bare.

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 1:4
And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:5
God called the light "day" and the darkness "night." And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.
Genesis 1:11
Then God said, "Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came." And that is what happened.
Genesis 1:12
The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:16
God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars.
Genesis 1:17
God set these lights in the sky to light the earth,
Genesis 1:19
And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.
Genesis 1:20
Then God said, "Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind."
Genesis 1:22
Then God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth."
Genesis 1:30
And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life." And that is what happened.

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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