Joel 2:25

25 I will repay you the years that the locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my mighty troops that I sent against you.

Joel 2:25 Meaning and Commentary

Joel 2:25

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath
eaten
Or "I will recompense to you the years" ^F13; give you fruitful ones, as a full compensation for those in which the locust ate up the fruits of the earth for some years running: the canker worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer worm;
of which see ( Joel 1:4 ) ; my great army which I sent among you;
as in ( Joel 2:11 ) ; the Targum of the whole is,

``and I will recompense unto you good years, in the room of the years in which the people, nations, and tongues, the governors and kingdoms of vengeance, spoiled you, my great army which I sent among you;''

and Kimchi observes, that the sense of the Targumist is, that this verse is a prophecy of the days of the Messiah; as no doubt it is, in which the Lord has done for his people, as Moses prayed he would, "make [them] glad according to the days wherein [he] afflicted [them], and the years wherein [they had] seen evil", ( Psalms 90:15 ) ; the times of the Messiah, in which so many good things come to the people of God, are a sufficient recompence for what they endured in times past. Of the Mahometan notion of locusts being the army of God, (See Gill on Joel 2:11).

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (Mkl ytmlvw) "et rependam vobis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vatablus, Tarnovius; "compensabo", Grotius, Cocceius.

Joel 2:25 In-Context

23 Be glad, [O] children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in Yahweh your God, because he has given for you the autumn rains for [your] righteousness, and he has {poured down} for you rainwater, [the] autumn and spring rains, as before.

24 The threshing floors will be full [with] grain, and the vats will overflow [with] new wine and olive oil.

25 I will repay you the years that the locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my mighty troops that I sent against you.

26 And you will eat abundantly and be satisfied, and praise the name of Yahweh your God, who has dealt with you {wondrously}. My people {will never be ashamed}.

27 And you will know that I [am] in the midst of Israel, and I [am] Yahweh, your God, and there is no [other]. My people {will never be ashamed again}.