Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation: The destruction caused by the locusts is so terrible that the story of the experience should be passed on to three generations—children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. The Hebrew here can be understood to mean four generations. The three lines are connected to each other by means of repeating the expression for the previous generation when introducing the next generation. This structure suggests that the story should be told to all generations to come. The previous verse referred to the ancestors, but this one refers to the descendants.

The verb Tell is imperative, and this command really applies to the next two generations as well, even though the prophet is not speaking to them directly. In English the third person imperative is usually marked by the auxiliary verb “let,” followed by the infinitive of the verb of command. Thus let your children tell is a command, not a statement granting them permission to tell. The Hebrew verb for tell only occurs in the first line, but it is implied in the next two lines also. Revised Standard Version has added it to the second line, but leaves it implied in the third line. Some languages may need to make it explicit in all three lines. If so, they may use synonymous verbs such as “pass on” and “inform” in the second and third lines.

The Hebrew expression for of it is in an emphatic position, implying that they should provide a complete account of the disaster and of how terrible it was. Some languages require that what has to be told should be made specific. Since at this stage we have not been given any details of what happened, a generic term like “disaster” can be used instead of the pronoun it.

Instead of another generation, translators may say “their children,” as long as it is clearly understood that we are dealing with a succession of three generations.

Quoted with permission from de Blois, Kees & Dorn, Louis. A Handbook on Joel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .