Joel 1:3
What does Joel 1:3 mean?
A plain-English look at Joel 1:3 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Joel 1:3 means
Joel commands that the memory of this calamity be transmitted to children, grandchildren, and beyond. The goal is not to sensationalize tragedy, but to disciple future generations in recognizing God’s hand in history. Remembering preserves humility, warns against complacency, and invites repentance should similar judgments arise. The verse elevates communal memory as a spiritual safeguard: when God acts so conspicuously, forgetting erodes wisdom. Instruction must be intentional—parents telling children who then tell theirs—so that the lessons of this hour shape the nation’s piety and practices long after the locusts are gone and fields recover.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Give the story of it to your children, and let them give it to their children, and their children to another generation.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Concerning it to your sons talk ye, And your sons to their sons, And their sons to another generation.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Tell ye of this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Tell your children of it, and [let] your children [tell] their children, and their children another generation:
Context
After summoning attention and highlighting the event’s rarity, Joel turns to the obligation of remembrance. The next verse explains why the event must be remembered: the devastation came in successive, exhaustive waves, leaving a lasting imprint. This narrative strategy links command and content: the generational telling will include the detail and completeness of the loss. From there, Joel will address specific groups affected and call for lament, showing that remembering is not detached history but fuel for a present, heartfelt response to God.
v.2Hear 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?
v.3This passage
v.4That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Isaiah 38:19
The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: The father to the children shall make known thy truth.
- Exodus 13:14
And it shall be, when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand Jehovah brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage:
- Psalms 71:18
Yea, even when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not, Until I have declared thy strength unto the next generation, Thy might to every one that is to come.
- Joshua 4:21
And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?
- Joshua 4:6
that this may be a sign among you, that, when your children ask in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?
- Psalms 145:4
One generation shall laud thy works to another, And shall declare thy mighty acts.
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