Joel 1:2
What does Joel 1:2 mean?
A plain-English look at Joel 1:2 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Joel 1:2 means
Joel commands the elders and every inhabitant to pay careful attention, insisting that the catastrophe surpasses living memory. The rhetorical question—has anything like this happened before?—heightens the gravity of the situation. When the aged cannot recall a parallel, the community must reckon with an extraordinary act of God. The verse invites corporate reflection: this is not a random setback but a moment demanding communal wisdom. By addressing elders first, Joel calls on those charged with guidance to recognize the uniqueness of the time and lead the people in an appropriately sober, teachable response.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
KJV
King James Version · 1611Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Give ear to this, you old men, and take note, you people of the land. Has this ever been in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Hear this, ye aged ones, And give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land, Hath this been in your days? Or in the days of your fathers?
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land: did this ever happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
Context
Having established divine authorship, Joel seeks a hearing from leaders and laity alike. The insistence on unprecedented severity sets up the need to memorialize and learn from the plague. In the following verse, Joel will move from noticing the event’s uniqueness to mandating that it be told across generations. The flow moves from “listen” to “remember and tell,” before detailing the layered destruction that proves the disaster’s unequaled scope. This sequence underscores both urgency and the duty to interpret calamity in light of God’s dealings.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Hosea 4:1
Hear the word of Jehovah, ye children of Israel; for Jehovah hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.
- Joel 1:14
Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the old men and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of Jehovah your God, and cry unto Jehovah.
- Isaiah 7:17
Jehovah will bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—even the king of Assyria.
- Matthew 13:9
He that hath ears, let him hear.
- Jeremiah 30:7
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
- Job 21:7
Wherefore do the wicked live, Become old, yea, wax mighty in power?
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