Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation both place a stanza break before this verse. The last three verses of the book show the contrast between the fate of Judah and that of its enemies.

Egypt shall become a desolation and Edom a desolate wilderness: The Egyptians had attacked the land of Judah, as described in 1 Kgs 14.25-26; 2 Kgs 23.29; and Obadiah’s prophecy tells of an attack by the Edomites. The Egyptians and the Edomites were Judah’s historic enemies. The country of Egypt was southwest of Judah, and the country of Edom was southeast of the Dead Sea.

The Hebrew expressions for desolation and desolate wilderness refer to places where no one lives and nothing grows. For desolate wilderness, see the comments on 2.3. The prophetic threat is that no one will live in Egypt and Edom where now there are cities and people. For these two lines Good News Translation has “Egypt will become a desert, and Edom a ruined waste,” and Bible en français courant says “Egypt shall be depopulated, the country of Edom reduced to a desert.” Contemporary English Version combines these two lines into one since desolation and desolate wilderness are close in meaning: “Now their countries will become a barren desert.” Other languages may want to do this also.

For the violence done to the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land is literally “because of the violence to the people of Judah, whose innocent blood they shed in their land.” These two lines give the reason why Egypt and Edom will become desolate. It is because they treated Judah violently by killing its innocent people. The first logical connector for is appropriate here at the beginning of these lines, but the second logical connector because does not express the Hebrew correctly. The Hebrew word rendered because introduces a relative clause, so the last line is better rendered “whose innocent blood they shed in their country” (New Jerusalem Bible). Violence refers to harming people physically and wrongly, when they have not deserved it. To shed innocent blood is to murder someone who does not deserve to be killed. Good News Translation expresses these lines as “because they attacked the land of Judah and killed its innocent people.” “The land of Judah” is literally their land, but Good News Translation names the country explicitly for clarity. However, the pronoun their could refer to the Egyptians and Edomites, implying that the people of Judah were killed in Egypt and Edom. Living Bible expresses this sense by rendering in their land as “in those nations” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch [1982]).

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 .