Joel 2:16 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Joel 2:16
Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
to gather for any purpose · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
people
עָ֞ם'am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
sanctify
קַדְּשׁ֤וּka.de.Shu
H6942
to be (causatively · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
congregation
קָהָל֙ka.Hal
H6951
assemblage (usually concretely) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
assemble
קִבְצ֣וּkiv.Tzu
H6908
to grasp · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
elders
זְקֵנִ֔יםze.ke.Nim
H2205
old · adjective, masculine plural absolute
gather
אִסְפוּ֙'is.Fu
H622
to gather for any purpose · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
children
עֽוֹלָלִ֔יםo.la.Lim
H5768
a suckling · noun, common masculine plural absolute
suck
וְיֹנְקֵ֖יve.yo.ne.Kei
H3243
to suck · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct
breasts
שָׁדָ֑יִםsha.Da.yim
H7699
the breast of a woman or animal (as bulging) · noun, common masculine dual absolute
bridegroom
חָתָן֙cha.Tan
H2860
a relative by marriage (especially through the bride) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
forth
יֵצֵ֤אye.Tze'
H3318
to go (causatively · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
chamber
מֵֽחֶדְר֔וֹme.ched.Ro
H2315
an apartment (usually literal) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
bride
וְכַלָּ֖הve.kha.Lah
H3618
a bride (as if perfect) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
closet
מֵחֻפָּתָֽהּme.chu.pa.Tah
H2646
a canopy · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Chronicles 20:13 And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
2 Chronicles 29:5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth th…
1 Corinthians 7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together aga…
Exodus 19:10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
Exodus 19:22 And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.
1 Samuel 16:5 And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jess…
Joel 1:14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and c…
Zechariah 12:11-14 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joel 2:12-17
We have here an earnest exhortation to repentance, inferred from that desolating judgment described and threatened in the foregoing verses: Therefore now turn you to the Lord. 1. "Thus you must answer the end and intention of the judgment; for it was sent for this end, to convince you of your sins, to humble you for them, to reduce you to your right minds and to your allegiance." God brings us into straits, that he may bring us to repentance and so bring us to himself. 2. "Thus you may stay the progress of the judgment. Things are bad with you, but thus you may prevent their growing worse; nay, if you take this course, they will soon grow better." Here is a gracious invitation,
I. To a perso…
sanctify the congregation--namely, by expiatory rites and purification with water [CALVIN], (Exo 19:10, Exo 19:22). MAURER translates, "appoint a solemn assembly," which would be a tautological repetition of Joe 2:15.
elders . . . children--No age was to be excepted (Ch2 20:13).
bridegroom--ordinarily exempted from public duties (Deu 24:5; compare Co1 7:5, Co1 7:29).
closet--or, nuptial bed, from a Hebrew root "to cover," referring to the canopy over it.
John Gill on Joel 2:16
Gather the people,.... The common people, all the inhabitants of the land, Joel 1:14; summon them to meet together in the temple, in order to humble themselves before God for their sins, and implore his mercy, and seek his face to remove his judgments, or avert them:
sanctify the congregation; see that they are sanctified and prepared for a fast, as the law directs in such cases; that they may be clean and free from all ceremonial impurities; that their bodies and clothes be washed, and that they abstain from their wives, and from all lawful pleasures, as well as sinful ones:
assemble the elders; both in age and authority; that they, by their presence and example, might influence others to…
He addressed them piously. "Have you not read," he said, "what divine authority has prescribed to a sinful people through the prophet: 'Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping,' and a little later: 'Sanctify a fast,' he says, 'call an assembly, gather the congregation,' and all that follows? Therefore, fulfill with worthy actions what you teach, that you may perhaps escape the evil of the present time. And let nobody, on any account, go out on his field as if he could ward off the locusts by human effort, lest God's wrath be provoked even more." Without delay everybody gathered in the church, and they all, each in his place, recited the psalms, as was the custom. Every age and sex, even those who could not yet speak, offered a prayer to God with tears, alms were given unceasingly, and every good work that the present emergency demanded was carried out as had been prescribed by the servant of God.
Devout fasting has a very great value for gaining the mercy of God and for strengthening human frailty. We know this from the teaching of holy prophets, dearly beloved. They insist that the arousal of divine justice—which the people of Israel frequently brought upon themselves in punishment for their wickedness—could not be placated except by fasting. Joel the prophet warns us in saying, "The Lord God says these things: 'Turn to me with all your heart, in fasting, in weeping and in mourning. Rend your hearts, and not your garments. Be converted to the Lord your God, because he is merciful and patient and magnanimous and rich in mercy.' " At another point, the same prophet says, "Make a holy fast, preach healing, call together the people, make holy the assembly." This exhortation, dearly beloved, is what we must embrace in our times also. We must of necessity preach the remedy of this healing, so that Christian devotion in the observance of that ancient means for sanctification might acquire what the Jewish transgression lost.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Marriage — Was instituted in Paradise when man was in innocence (Gen. 2:18-24). Here we have its original charter, which was confirmed by our Lord, as the basis on which all regulations are to be framed (Matt.…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Joel 2:15-17
Joel 2:15-17
15. Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:
15. Clangite tuba in Sion, sanctificate jejunium, indicite conventum:
16. Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
16. Colligite populum, sanctificate coetum, coedunate senes, colligite parvulos et sugentes ubera, et egrediatur sponsus e penetrali suo et sponsa e thalamo suo.
17. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that…
To make this admonition still more emphatic, the prophet concludes by repeating the appeal for the appointment of a meeting in the temple for prayer, and even gives the litany in which the priests are to offer their supplication. Joe 2:15. "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, proclaim a meeting. Joe 2:16. Gather the people together, sanctify an assembly, bring together the old men, gather together the children and sucklings at the breasts. Let the bridegroom go out of his chamber, and the bride out of her room. Joe 2:17. Between the porch and the altar are the priests, the servants of Jehovah, to weep and say, Spare, O Jehovah, Thy people, and give not up Thine inheritance to shame…
bridegroom . . . and the bride: Newlyweds were exempt from most civic duties in ancient Israel (Deut 24:5; Luke 14:20), but in this emergency, everyone would be summoned to the Temple to cry out to God.
