Joel 3:11 - Exposition

This verse expresses the precipitancy with which the procession of the hostile nations is hurried on in order to meet their doom, as also the prophet's prayer for the descent of Jehovah's mighty ones to the slaughter. Assemble yourselves , and come. It is rather, hasten , and come ; the word עוּשׁוּ , only occurring here, being equivalent to חוּשׁוּ , equivalent to "hasten ye." The LXX . and Chaldee, indeed, favour the sense of "assemble;" the former has συναθροίζεσθε . But that idea is expressed afterwards by the verb קְבָּצוּ , which is an anomalous form of the imperative Niph. for הִקָּבְצו , though some take it for the perfect with vav consec. The word hanchath is usually and properly taken as the imperative Hiph; from nachath , to come down, the pathach taking the place of tzere on account of the guttural and the nun retained without assimilation, as the nun rarely falls away in verbs that have a guttural for their second stem-letter. The meaning

This, though supported by the Chaldee, Syriac, Vulgate, and Jerome, is less simple and obvious, necessitating also a corresponding change of the verbal form into חִנְחִת or הִנְחִית . The LXX . rendering is peculiar, and as follows: "Let the meek become a warrior."