Joel 2:12–13
“Return to me with all your heart”: God is gracious
Study it word by word12Yet even now, declares YHWH, return to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with lamenting.
13And tear your heart, and not your garments, and return to YHWH your Elohim; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love, and relenting over the evil.
In its context
10Before it the earth quakes, the heavens shake; sun and moon grow dark, and the stars withdraw their brightness.
11And YHWH utters his voice before his army, for his camp is very great; for mighty is the one who carries out his word; for great is the day of YHWH and very fearsome; and who can endure it?
…
14Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave behind him a blessing, a grain offering and a libation for YHWH your Elohim.
15Blow the horn in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a solemn assembly.
Its words in the original
- נְאֻםneum· declaration
Solemn declaration. "Declares YHWH" is the formula that marks words as spoken by God himself.
- יְהוָהyehva· YHWH
The personal name of the God of Israel, written in Hebrew with four letters, Y-H-W-H, without vowels. Out of reverence Jews stopped pronouncing it and read "Adonai" (Lord), so many Bibles put "the LORD" or "Jehovah". This translation keeps the four letters. The name is related to the verb "to be" (Exodus 3:14-15). He is not a god other than Elohim: "YHWH Elohim" is the same Creator God, called by his name.
- שֻׁבוּshuvu· return, turn back
Turn back, return. Also turn away; in the causative form, bring back, give back, answer. Figuratively, turn back to God (change course). Often adverbial: "again".
- לְבַבְlevav· heart
Heart: the inner part of the person, where one thinks, feels and decides.
- צוֹםtsom· fast
Fast: going without food for a time, as a sign of mourning, of sorrow for sin, or of pleading with God.
- בְכִיvechi· weeping
Weeping.
- מִסְפֵּדmisped· lamentation
Lamentation: public expressions of grief for the dead.
- קִרְעוּkiru· tear
Tear. Tearing one's clothes was the sign of a very great grief.
- בִּגְדֵיbigde· garment, clothing
Garment, clothing, cloth. (A word with the same letters means "treachery".)
- אֱלֹהֵיelohe· Elohim, God, gods
The Hebrew word usually translated "God". This translation keeps "Elohim" when it speaks of the one true God, the Creator, the God of Israel. The word ends like a plural, but it does not mean several: for him the verb is singular ("Elohim created"); the plural form expresses greatness. The same word as a common noun names the "gods" of other peoples, and there it is a true plural, translated "gods". It is also used of mighty ones or judges.
- חַנּוּןchanun· gracious
Gracious, merciful: who shows favor to one in need. Said almost always of God.
- רַחוּםrachum· merciful
Merciful: who feels tenderness and compassion. Said almost always of God.
- אֶרֶךְerech· long, slow
Long. "Long of nose" is the Hebrew way of saying "slow to anger", patient.
- אַפַּיִםapayim· anger, nose
Nose, nostrils. Since breathing grows hard in anger, the same word also means "anger"; sometimes "face".
- רַבrav· many, great
Many, much, abundant, great; also "elder" or "chief".
- חֶסֶדchesed· loyal love
"Chesed": love that stays faithful to a commitment. It is kindness that does not remain a feeling: it acts in favor of the other and does not abandon him. The Bible says it above all of God's love for his people.
- נִחָםnicham· relent, be sorry, comfort
A verb of deep feeling, with two uses: "comfort" someone, and "be sorry" for something or "relent". Said of God, it expresses his grief at evil or that he does not carry out a punishment he had announced; not that he had made a mistake (compare Numbers 23:19).
- רָעָהraa· evil, bad, harm
Bad; evil. It includes what is morally wrong and also what does harm: misfortune, disaster, distress.