Alas for the day! This is an expression of despair or fear rather than a statement. Alas renders a Hebrew cry of fright, used to introduce such an expression. Most languages have such expressions, which are not thought of as words referring to objects or events but as exclamations revealing surprise, strong emotion, or protest. The day refers to the day of the LORD, which is not made specific until the second line. In the Hebrew text the day is used at the end of first line and at the beginning of the second one for rhetorical effect. That kind of repetition may or may not have the same effect in the receptor language. There may be more impact if the qualifier “terrible” is added to day in the receptor language, as in Bible en français courant. Good News Translation has moved the first line to the end of the verse, so that the day will have been identified: “What terror that day will bring!” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch uses an idiom, saying “Alas [or, Woe], what stands before us!” Another possible rendering is “It is terrible what we must yet face!”
For the day of the LORD is near: The connector For introduces the reason why the exclamation has been uttered. In some languages this conjunction may not be required. The day of the LORD does not refer to a period of time, as “day” sometimes does in the Old Testament, but to a single event, a time of God’s judgment. The day of the LORD does not refer to Sunday, nor is it a day that Yahweh owns, nor is Yahweh the one to whom something happens on that day. Rather, it refers to an event in which God is the actor. In its earliest use the expression seems to have been related to Israel’s so-called holy wars, in which God was said to act in a miraculous way against the enemies of Israel. Certain natural phenomena were associated with the coming of the “day.” The stories of the conquest of the land under Joshua provide examples of such events. There was also the element of salvation associated with the Promised Land, which featured in the minds of the original receptors of the message. However, in this verse God is taking action against his own people Israel. In addition to the five times the day of the LORD occurs in Joel, it occurs in Ezek 13.5; Amos 5.18, 20; Zeph 1.7, 14; Mal 4.5 (3.23 in Hebrew), as well as in other passages. Translators should use some consistency in rendering this expression. In some languages it has been translated “the Day of Yahweh’s judgment.” If you use such a phrase, it must be clear that Yahweh is the agent of the judging. A semantically more explicit phrase that resolves the ambiguity is “The Day when Yahweh will judge [the peoples of] the world.”
Is near does not refer to nearness in space but in time. The Hebrew adjective here can be understood to mean “is certainly coming.”
And as destruction from the Almighty it comes renders a play on words in the Hebrew text; the Hebrew word for destruction (shod) resembles the word for Almighty (Shadday). Translators can rarely keep such a Hebrew wordplay in other languages satisfactorily, especially when meaning has priority over form. They may wish to inform the readers through a footnote that the wordplay exists. The Hebrew word for destruction is frequently associated with soldiers destroying enemy property, as in the holy wars of Israel. Good News Translation has restructured this line into more normal English: “the day when the Almighty brings destruction.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “A great judgment comes from God, the Great One!” Some languages must specify what is destroyed; the following verses show that agricultural products and means of livelihood have been destroyed—fruits and trees, grain, granaries, and fields. However, translators should not be too specific here. If they need to say what is destroyed, a possible model is “the day when the Almighty brings disasters [or, punishment].” Another alternative is “the day when the Almighty sends his judgment” or “… settles his palaver.”
The Hebrew word for the Almighty is an ancient name for God that comes from the days of the patriarchs (Gen 17.1; 28.3). It seems to be used as an archaic expression, sometimes for poetic reasons, in later literature (Ruth 1.20; Psa 68.14). The meaning of the term is uncertain, but it is frequently translated “the Mighty One” or “the Almighty.”
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 .