Joel 3:19 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Joel 3:19
Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
devastation · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Edom
וֶאֱד֕וֹםve.'e.Dom
H123
Edom · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
desolate
שְׁמָמָ֖הshe.ma.Mah
H8077
devastation · noun, common feminine singular absolute
wilderness
לְמִדְבַּ֥רle.mid.Bar
H4057
a pasture (i.e. open field · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
violence
מֵֽחֲמַס֙me.cha.Mas
H2555
violence · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
children
בְּנֵ֣יbe.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Judah
יְהוּדָ֔הye.hu.Dah
H3063
Jehudah (or Judah) · proper noun, a place name
shed
שָׁפְכ֥וּsha.fe.Khu
H8210
to spill forth (blood · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
innocent
נָקִ֖יאna.Ki'
H5355
innocent · adjective, masculine singular absolute
blood
דָםdom-
H1818
blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or… · noun, common masculine singular absolute
land
בְּאַרְצָֽםbe.'ar.Tzam
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
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
Isaiah 19:1-15 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his pre…
Jeremiah 51:35 The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, sha…
Zechariah 14:18-19 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen…
Psalms 137:7 Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.
Isaiah 11:15 And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shal…
Isaiah 34:1-17 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come for…
Isaiah 63:1-6 Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his…
Jeremiah 49:17 Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joel 3:18–end
These promises with which this prophecy concludes have their accomplishments in part in the kingdom of grace, and the comforts and graces of all the faithful subjects of that kingdom, but will have their full accomplishment in the kingdom of glory; for, as to the Jewish church, we know not of any event concerning that which answers to the extent of these promises, and what instances of peace and prosperity they were blessed with, which they may be supposed to be a hyperbolical description of, they were but figures of better things reserved for us, that they in their best estate without us might not be made perfect.
I. It is promised that the enemies of the church shall be vanquished and brou…
Edom--It was subjugated by David, but revolted under Jehoram (Ch2 21:8-10); and at every subsequent opportunity tried to injure Judah. Egypt under Shishak spoiled Jerusalem under Rehoboam of the treasures of the temple and the king's house; subsequently to the captivity, it inflicted under the Ptolemies various injuries on Judea. Antiochus spoiled Egypt (Dan 11:40-43). Edom was made "desolate" under the Maccabees [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 12.11,12]. The low condition of the two countries for centuries proves the truth of the prediction (compare Isa 19:1, &c.; Jer 49:17; Oba 1:10). So shall fare all the foes of Israel, typified by these two (Isa 63:1, &c.).
John Gill on Joel 3:19
Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness,.... These two nations having been the implacable enemies of Israel, are here put for the future adversaries of the church of Christ, Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan; who will all be destroyed as such, and be no more: Rome is called, spiritually or mystically, Egypt, Revelation 11:8; and Edom is a name that well agrees with it, it signifying "red", as it is with the blood of the saints: and it is common, with the Jewish writers, by Edom to understand Rome; which though it may not be true of all places they so interpret, yet is of many, and so here. Kimchi, by Egypt understands the Ishmaelites, or the Turks; and, by Edom, Rome;…
(Verse 19.) Egypt will be in desolation, and Edom will be a desert of destruction, because they have acted unjustly towards the sons of Judah and have shed innocent blood in their land. According to the Septuagint: Egypt will be in ruin, and Edom will be a field of desolation, because of the iniquities of the sons of Judah, because they have shed righteous blood in their land. And in this place, the Jews sleep a very heavy sleep: in the last time, when they will not receive Christ but will receive the Antichrist, they vainly imagine revenge upon the Egyptians who are nearby and upon the Romans whom they interpret as Edomites." } Just as Pharaoh and his entire army, who held the people of God captive for four hundred and thirty years, were submerged in the Red Sea, so too may the Romans, who will possess the Jews for the same period of time, be destroyed by the vengeance of the Lord. Let them not hope in vain for this. For they cannot explain why, when there are so many nations in the world, only two, the Egyptians and the Edomites, are expected to be punished. Or why the Romans are seen as equivalent to the Edomites, when we can assert with equal license of lying from the opposite perspective, that the term 'Edomites' refers to the Persians, or the Elamites, or the Franks, or the Alemanni, and other nations." } But let us say that in the time of the Lord's resurrection, or on the day of judgment (we receive both), Egypt and Edom, in that Egypt and Edom signify, must be destroyed. Egypt is called Egypt, which means 'oppression', that is, persecuting and troubling the holy people of God. Edom means 'earthly' or 'bloody'. Therefore, whoever persecutes the people of God and is occupied with earthly works and sheds innocent blood daily, that is, of those whom he deceives, will be brought to destruction, just as we know the souls of the martyrs also cry out under the altar: 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, will you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?' (Rev. 6:10)
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
Edom — (1.) The name of Esau (q.v.), Gen. 25:30, “Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage [Heb. haadom, haadom, i.e., ‘the red pottage, the red pottage’] ...Therefore was his name called Edom”,…
Jehoshaphat, Valley of — Mentioned in Scripture only in Joel 3:2, 12. This is the name given in modern times to the valley between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, and the Kidron flows through it. Here Jehoshaphat…
Joel · .Sets forth the blessings of the church — .Sets forth the blessings of the church
Judgments · Different kinds of: Desolation — Different kinds of: Desolation
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).
John Calvin on Joel 3:18-19
Joel 3:18-19
18. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
18. Et erit in die illa, stillabunt montes mustum, et colles decurrere facient lac; et omnes rivi Jehudah emittent aquas (hoc est, descendere facient,) et fons e domo Jehovae egredietur et irrigabit vallem Sittim.
19. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
19. Aegyptus in solit…
After the judgment upon all nations, the land of the Lord will overflow with streams of divine blessing; but the seat of the world-power will become a barren waste. Joe 3:18. "And it comes to pass in that day, the mountains will trickle down with new wine, and the hills flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah flow with water; and a fountain will issue from the house of Jehovah, and water the Acacia valley. Joe 3:19. Egypt will become a desolation, and Edom a barren waste, for the sin upon the sons of Judah, that they have shed innocent blood in their land. Joe 3:20. But Judah, it will dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. Joe 3:21. And I shall expiate their blood t…
