Joel 2:20

But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
off	אַרְחִ֣יק 'ar.Chik	H7368	to widen (in any direction) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular
northern	הַצְּפוֹנִ֞י ha.tze.fo.Ni	H6830	northern · definite article + adjective, masculine singular absolute
drive	וְהִדַּחְתִּיו֮ ve.hi.dach.Tiv	H5080	to push off · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
land	אֶ֣רֶץ 'E.retz	H776	the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular construct
barren	צִיָּ֣ה tzi.Yah	H6723	aridity · noun, common feminine singular absolute
desolate	וּשְׁמָמָה֒ u.she.ma.Mah	H8077	devastation · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
face	פָּנָ֗יו pa.Nav	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
east	הַקַּדְמֹנִ֔י ha.kad.mo.Ni	H6931	(of time) anterior or (of place) oriental · definite article + adjective, masculine singular absolute
sea	הַיָּם֙ hai.Yam	H3220	a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
part	וְסֹפ֖וֹ ve.so.Fo	H5490	a termination · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
utmost	הָאַֽחֲר֑וֹן ha.'a.cha.Ron	H314	hinder · definite article + adjective, masculine singular absolute
sea	הַיָּ֣ם hai.Yam	H3220	a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
stink	בָאְשׁ֗וֹ va.'e.Sho	H889	a stench · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
up	וְעָלָ֣ה ve.'a.Lah	H5927	to ascend · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
savour	צַחֲנָת֔וֹ tza.cha.na.To	H6709	stench · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
up	וְתַ֙עַל֙ ve.Ta.'al	H5927	to ascend · conjunction + verb, qal jussive, 3rd person feminine singular
done	לַעֲשֽׂוֹת la.'a.Sot	H6213	to do or make · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
things	הִגְדִּ֖יל hig.Dil	H1431	to be (causatively make) large (in various senses · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine 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

Zechariah 14:8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the…
Deuteronomy 11:24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates,…
Isaiah 34:3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
Amos 4:10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses;…
Exodus 10:19 And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in…
Ezekiel 39:12-16 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
Ezekiel 47:18 And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border u…
Jeremiah 1:14-15 Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Joel 2:18-27

See how ready God is to succour and relieve his people, how he waits to be gracious; as soon as ever they humble themselves under this hand, and pray, and seek his face, he immediately meets them with his favours. They prayed that God would spare them, and see here with what good words and comfortable words he answered them; for God's promises are real answers to the prayers of faith, because with him saying and doing are not two things. Now observe, I. Whence this mercy promised shall take rise (Joe 2:18): God will be jealous for his land and pity his people. He will have an eye, 1. To his own honour, and the reputation of his covenant with Israel, by which he had conveyed to them that good…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joel 2:20

the northern army--The Hebrew expresses that the north in relation to Palestine is not merely the quarter whence the invader comes, but is his native land, "the Northlander"; namely, the Assyrian or Babylonian (compare Jer 1:14-15; Zep 2:13). The locust's native country is not the north, but the south, the deserts of Arabia, Egypt, and Libya. Assyria and Babylon are the type and forerunner of all Israel's foes (Rome, and the final Antichrist), from whom God will at last deliver His people, as He did from Sennacherib (Kg2 19:35). face . . . hinder part--more applicable to a human army's van and rear, than to locusts. The northern invaders are to be dispersed in every other direction but tha…

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John Gill on Joel 2:20

But I will remove far off from you the northern army,.... The army of the locusts, which came from the northern corner, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; and is the first sense Jarchi makes mention of; though he says their Rabbins (b) interpret it of the evil imagination hid in the heart of men; and the two seas, later mentioned, of the two temples, first and second, destroyed by it; so, Kimchi says, they explain this verse of the days of the Messiah, and observes, the same sense they give; but Jarchi mentions another, according to which a people coming from the north are designed, even the kings of Assyria; and with this agrees the Targum, which paraphrases it, "and the people which come from the n…

The Church Fathers

Joel, the prophet, offers evidence about [the devil] with these words: "And I will remove far off from you the northern one, and I will drive him into the land thirsty and desert, and I shall expel his face into the nearest sea and his hinder parts into the utmost sea." We thank you, Lord, for this arrangement. What would the devil do if free, when he afflicts the world when bound?
— Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 36:35

"I will remove the northerner," both the Assyrian and Babylonian. Someone may ask, "Since for its position Babylon is not situated north of Jerusalem, why does God say through the prophet, 'I will remove the northerner far from you' and 'Out of the north evil shall break forth upon' these people"? And we answer that first of all, these words are not said in consideration of the geographical position of Babylon and Jerusalem but of those northern nations subject to the Babylonians—the Arzanites, the Araratites2—who will come down to Jerusalem with the Babylonians. Second, it is because those who want to reach Jerusalem from the regions of Babylon, Persia and the east go up toward the region of the north and then come down toward Jerusalem in the south.
— Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOEL

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

Dead Sea — The name given by Greek writers of the second century to that inland sea called in Scripture the “salt sea” (Gen. 14:3; Num. 34:12), the “sea of the plain” (Deut. 3:17), the “east sea” (Ezek. 47:18;…
East sea — (Joel 2:20; Ezek. 47:18), the Dead Sea, which lay on the east side of the Holy Land. The Mediterranean, which lay on the west, was hence called the “great sea for the west border” (Num. 34:6).
Locust — There are ten Hebrew words used in Scripture to signify locust. In the New Testament locusts are mentioned as forming part of the food of John the Baptist (Matt. 3:4; Mark 1:6). By the Mosaic law…
Sea — The sea, yam, is used in Scripture to denote—
Sea, The Salt — the usual and perhaps the most ancient name for the remarkable lake which to the western world is now generally known as the Dead Sea. I. Names.— (1) The Salt Sea, (Genesis 14:3) (2) Sea of the…
Sun — (Heb. shemesh), first mentioned along with the moon as the two great luminaries of heaven (Gen. 1:14-18). By their motions and influence they were intended to mark and divide times and seasons. The…
Dead Sea · EAST SEA — EAST SEA
Mediterranean Sea · The utmost sea — The utmost sea

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).

Joel 2:20

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Joel 2:18-27

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joel 2:20

John Gill on Joel 2:20

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Joel 2:20

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Joel 2:18-27

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joel 2:20

John Gill on Joel 2:20

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Joel 2:20

Keil & Delitzsch on Joel 2:19-20

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Joel 2:19-20