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Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Joel 3:18-21

The Future Felicity of Judah Contrasted with the Desolation of her Oppressors. In that golden age when Yahweh shall dwell in Zion miraculous fertility shall transform the land, covering it with vineyards and pastures. The watercourses, now treacherous because in the heat they become dry beds of sand, shall then be brimming with perennial streams. From the Temple shall issue a spring which shall pass through the Wady of the Acacias. Egypt the oldest of Judah's oppressors and Edom most bitterly hated of her later foes shall be destroyed and become desert; but Judah shall be inhabited for ever, and Yahweh shall dwell eternally (so render dwelleth) in Zion.

Joel 3:18. valley of Shittim: rather, Wady of the Acacias. Probably not the name of a definite gorge, but typical; the place-names of this chapter are of the same kind as those used by Bunyan. Acacias grow in arid regions. Cf. for the whole conception, Ezekiel 47:1, upon which it is based.

Joel 3:19. because. land: a gloss.

Joel 3:21. Possibly we should read, And I will avenge their blood (which) I have not avenged, but the clause seems to be a gloss.

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See also Joel 3:18-21 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 18. _IN THAT DAY_] After their return from their captivities. _THE MOUNTAINS SHALL DROP DOWN NEW WINE_] A poetic expression for great fertility. Happy times: peace and plenty. The vines shall g...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY - After the destruction of antichrist, there will, it seems, still be a period of probation, in which the grace of God will abound and extend more and more widely...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    III. THE EVENTS OF THE DAY OF THE LORD: ISRAEL'S ENEMIES JUDGED AND THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The judgment of the nations (Joel 3:1) _ 2. The preceding warfare of the nations and how i...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    THAT DAY. Compare Joel 3:1. MOUNTAINS... HILLS. Compare Amos 9:13. DROP DOWN. distil. NEW WINE. sweet wine, or mead. Hebrew. _'asis._ App-27. RIVERS. Hebrew. _'aphikim. See_ note on "channels",...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Part II. Chap. Joel 2:18 to Joel 3:21 Jehovah's answer to His people's prayer of penitence. He will remove from them the plague of locusts, and bestow upon them an abundance of both material and spir...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _in that day_ In the era beginning immediately after the judgement on the nations. Cf. on Amos 9:11. _the mountains shall drop down_ SWEET WINE, _and the hills shall flow_with _milk_ A hyperbolical de...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Israel's final prosperity. After the judgement upon the nations, the land of Judah will be blessed with preternatural fertility, and will enjoy for ever undisturbed peace, while that of her foes will...

  • Charles Box Commentaries

    _ENEMY NATIONS FACE PUNISHMENT -- JOEL 3:18-21:_ In Joel three verse eighteen we see figures of (1) fruitful vineyards, (2) cattle and goats tat graze on the hills and produce a lot of milk, and (3) s...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 1184 THE MILLENNIUM Joel 3:18. _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 w...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    _JOEL 3:18_. THE _MOUNTAINS SHALL DROP DOWN NEW WINE_— Chandler paraphrases this verse thus: "The consequence of this happy deliverance shall be the utmost plenty; for at this time the vine shall prod...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    III THE PURPOSE OF REPENTANCE (cont-'d) GOD'S PRESENCE AMONG HIS PEOPLE TEXT: Joel 3:16-21 16 And Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth sh...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    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 f...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    3:18 water-courses (f-28) Or 'ravines.' Shittim. (g-52) Valley of acacias....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE JUDGMENT OF THE HEATHEN AND THE GLORY OF ISRAEL A general judgment of all nations, for their mistreatment of Israel, is announced in the valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:1). Tyre, Zidon, and Philisti...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    THE DAY OF THE LORD JOEL _ROY ROHU_ CHAPTER 3 THE *LORD *JUDGES THE NATIONS V1 ‘One day, at that time, I will make *Judah and Jerusalem great again. V2 Then I will bring all the nations together...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    THE MOUNTAINS SHALL DROP DOWN NEW WINE. — The material prosperity depicted in these verses symbolises the glorious reign of Jehovah when the last enemy has been destroyed, and “God is all in all.” A F...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    _[Joel 4:18]_ וְ הָיָה֩ בַ † יֹּ֨ום הַ

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    THE JUDGMENT OF THE HEATHEN Joel 3:1 HITHERTO Joel has spoken no syllable of the heathen, except to pray that God by His plagues will not give Israel to be mocked by them. But in the last chapter of...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    “THE VALLEY OF DECISION” Joel 2:28-32; Joel 3:1-21 Having stated the outward blessings that would follow repentance, Joel unveils the extraordinary spiritual blessings that were in store. The outpour...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Finally the prophet moved on to a yet higher level, and dealt wholly with things to come. The great word introducing the section is "afterward." Some of the things foretold have now been fulfilled, so...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the mountains shall (l) 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 c...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    Sweetness; oil and honey. (Calmet) --- Fountain, &c., viz., the fountain of grace in the Church militant, and of glory in the Church triumphant; which shall water the torrent or valley of thorns, that...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    I do not presume to say as much, but I venture to believe, that Joel's prophecy in this Chapter is looking so far on, as to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The valley of Jehoshaphat is aga...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    Lectures on the Minor Prophets. W. Kelly. "The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of Pethuel." Like Hosea, Joel is one of the earliest prophets (being earlier even than Jonah), but differs ess...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    The Prophet here declares that God will be so bountiful to his people, that no good things will be wanting to them either in abundance or variety. When God then shall restore his Church, it will aboun...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    In Joel 3 the Spirit develops, with more detail, the circumstances of the last days-those days, in which God would bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem. This epoch precedes the time of peace...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY,.... When antichrist shall be destroyed; the Jews converted; the power of godliness revived, and the presence of God among his people enjoyed. Vitringa, in his Co...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    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...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _The mountains shall drop down new wine_ Namely, the vines planted upon the mountains. _The hills shall flow with milk_ So fruitful shall the hills be, that milk shall abound everywhere. _And all the...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    And it shall come to pass in that day, when the blessings of the Messianic period would be dispensed, THAT THE MOUNTAINS SHALL DROP DOWN NEW WINE, AND THE HILLS SHALL FLOW WITH MILK, AND ALL THE RIVER...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    JEHOVAH THE HOPE OF THE PEOPLE...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    FLOW: _ Heb._ go...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    18-21 There shall be abundant Divine influences, and the gospel will spread speedily into the remotest corners of the earth. These events are predicted under significant emblems; there is a day comin...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    IN THAT DAY; when afflictions, amidst which they were preserved, from which delivered, and by which they were purified. THE MOUNTAINS; the vines planted upon the mountains, which were dried up, JOEL 1...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Joel 3:18 day H3117 mountains H2022 drip H5197 (H8799) wine H6071 hills H1389 flow H3212 (H8799) milk...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    THE FINAL SHOWDOWN (JOEL 3:15). Joel closes his prophecy by declaring what YHWH will do for His people as by His mighty roar, and by portentous signs, He demonstrates to the world His watch over them....

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Restoration of Israel, and judgment of all nations in regard to Israel. Full kingdom blessings under Christ. CHARACTERS: God, Joel. CONCLUSION: Though God has suffered the enemies of His pe...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Joel 3:1. _Behold, in those days,_ in the days of the Messiah, as stated from the twenty eighth verse of the preseding chapter. Of course all references in our elder critics, to Cambyses, and to Judas...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine._ THE GOLDEN AGE I. It will be an age in which great temporal prosperity will be witnessed. “And it shall come to p...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    JOEL 3:1 Judgment: The Lord’s Judgment against the Nations and His Dwelling with His People. The Lord provides reasons for judgment (vv. Joel 3:1), a description of the climactic judgment on the day o...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    JOEL—NOTE ON JOEL 3:18 IN THAT DAY. That is, the day of the Lord (Joel 2:2; Joel 3:1)....

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES. Joel 3:18.] After judgment upon all nations, the land of Jehovah shall overflow with Divine blessings; but the seat of the world will become barren waste. DROP] Poetic for great fertil...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION JOEL 3:1 These verses describe the deliverance of God's people and the destruction of his enemies because of their injurious, insulting, and ignominious treatment of his people. JOEL 3:1...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Now in those days (Joel 3:1), He goes into chapter 3. and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem (Joel 3:1), That is, in the days--we're getting close now, for...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Amos 9:13; Amos 9:14; Ezekiel 47:1; Isaiah 30:25; Isaiah 35:6;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    The mountains — The vines planted upon the mountains. Shall flow — So fruitful shall the hills be, that milk shall abound every where. A fountain — The prophet alludes to those waters which were conve...

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