Be glad, O sons of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD, your God: For the synonymous verbs Be glad and rejoice, see the comments on verse 21.
The phrase sons of Zion includes all the people of Jerusalem (see Joel 2.1). Good News Translation says “people of Zion.” Rejoice in the LORD, your God implies rejoicing in God’s mighty acts. In most languages it may be better to state this explicitly, as in Good News Translation, which says “rejoice at what the LORD your God has done for you.”
For he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before: The early rain in Palestine marks the beginning of the rainy season. Most of the rain falls from early December through early March. Only in the winter is the rain ever abundant. The rain that falls in April and May is called the latter rain; it brings the rainy season to an end. This information is useful for understanding the background of the expressions in these lines. Good News Translation uses “autumn rain,” “winter rain,” “and spring rain” to clarify for its audience the times of these rains. In some parts of the world the times of these rains have to be described as “beginning of the rainy/wet season,” “middle of…,” and “end of….”
For your vindication is literally “for righteousness.” Here this phrase does not mean “to prove your innocence,” for the people of Judah have had to repent before God. New Jerusalem Bible has “as justice demands,” which seems to follow this interpretation, but it is very ambiguous. “For righteousness” could mean that Judah is once more in a good relationship with God. Things are “right again,” so he sends rain. However, the Hebrew does not include the explicit pronoun your, so this phrase could mean “to the right amount,” that is, God has sent rain that is “just right,” neither too heavy nor too light (so Good News Translation), and at the “right” time of the year (so Contemporary English Version). Jerusalem Bible uses “since he is just,” and the GNT footnote: has “because he is just.” These two renderings reflect another possible interpretation. The Hebrew word for early rain may also mean “teacher.” Therefore some have suggested translating early rain for your vindication as “teacher for righteousness” (NIV footnote:; similarly New American Bible). The poetic form of this prophecy certainly intended to make allusions to other things than merely early rain. This expression seems to be another example of a Hebrew prophet saying one thing, but at the same time providing poetic clues that he has something else in mind as well. God’s judgment, followed by salvation, had served as a “teacher,” and the process of restoration was going to make everything “just right.” However, it is almost never possible to duplicate such poetic allusions in another language when translating. A comparison of the third line with the next two lines indicates that the central meaning of the third line is the one expressed in Good News Translation: “He has given you the right amount of autumn rain.” The implied meaning for the hearers in Judah would be that this “right amount” was a sign that things are now “right” again between them and God. Few translations will be able to say both things, as does the Hebrew.
The Hebrew word rendered abundant rain can be understood as rain in general, but with the verb poured down (literally “caused to descend”) the idea of abundance is implicit. S. R. Driver and G. A. Smith find that the Hebrew term can also refer to the “winter rain,” as Good News Translation and Bible en français courant translate. This makes sense, for the verse then shows the complete cycle of the rainy season—early, middle, and late rain.
The latter rain in Palestine is “the spring rain” (Good News Translation). Good News Translation omits the repetition of the early [rain] in the last line as unnecessary in English. In Hebrew mentioning the beginning and the end is the same as saying “from beginning to end,” so the early and the latter rain means “all the rain from the early to the latter rain.”
As before in the Masoretic Text is literally “in the first [month]” (King James Version) or “at the first,” but many Hebrew manuscripts and the ancient versions have as before, as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends “in the first (month)” but with some uncertainty (a {C} decision).
New English Bible emends the last three lines of this verse to read “who gives you good food in due measure and sends down rain as of old,” but there is no textual evidence to support this (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project).
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 .