sickle (illustration)

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “sickle” in English is illustrated for use in Bible translations in East Africa by Pioneer Bible Translators like this:

Image owned by PBT and Jonathan McDaniel and licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

complete verse (Joel 3:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joel 3:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “Prepare the sickles
    because the crop is ready/ripe.
    Go and squeeze the grapes
    because the places for squeezing are full.
    The wine will flow from where (it is/they are) squeezed.
    The sins of those people are not few.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Swing the Sickle because the wheat harvest time has come.
    Come, trample the grapes because the winepress is full
    and the wine containers are overflowing.
    Their wickedness has become very great.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They seem like/as-if what is-to-be-harvested which should already be-reaped for (it is) already ripe, or seems-like a grape that should already be-squeezed/pressed because the place-for-pressing/squeezing (is) now full of grapes. They (are) now very wicked; their sins seem-like juice of grapes that overflows from its container.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Extreme is their badness, therefore they will be harvested-with-a-sickle like rice at harvest-time and they will be squeezed-out like grapes in the place-of-squeezing until it is full.’” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “They are like crops that are ready to be harvested;
    so strike them like a farmer swings his sickle to cut the grain.
    They are like grapes that are piled high in the pits where they will be pressed;
    because they are very wicked,
    punish them severely now,
    like a farmer tramples on the grapes until the pits are full of juice.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Joel 3:13

Yahweh’s precise punishment of the nations surrounding Judah is never described in the verses that follow, but figurative language is used throughout.

As in verse 9, it is not stated to whom God gives the commands in this verse. It is understood that they will be carried out by whoever carries out God’s punishment on the nations. It may be the angels as his heavenly army, or it may be an earthly army, such as the army of Judah. In any case, it is better to follow the Hebrew text and not make explicit to whom God’s commands are given.

Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: The sickle was a tool used to harvest grain. It was a knife whose blade formed a half-circle. It was swung with one hand, while the other hand was free to hold the grain for easy cutting. The Hebrew verb rendered Put in can also mean “send.” “Send sickles” is a figure of speech that means “send the workers into the harvest field with their sickles.”

Go in, tread, for the wine press is full. The vats overflow: A wine press was a large hole cut into a rock so that it formed a container. Grapes were thrown into it, and people would stamp on the grapes with their bare feet in order to squeeze out the juice. The juice would flow out through a hole in the side of the wine press into the vats nearby (see 2.24 for a description of vats). The two commands Go in, tread refer to first entering the wine press and then crushing the grapes. In many languages only a single command is given, since entering is implied; for example, Good News Translation has simply “crush.”

For their wickedness is great: Their wickedness refers to the wickedness of the nations surrounding Judah. Is great means they do many evil things. Good News Translation says “They are very wicked.” In Hebrew this line is the reason for the vats overflowing, so is great probably also means that there are many evil people since it would take a lot of crushed “grapes” (referring to these people) to overflow the vats.

Both the sickle and the wine press are metaphors of God’s punishment of the nations. Good News Translation makes these figures clearer by changing them to similes and by moving the last line to the beginning of the verse. The nations are to be destroyed like grain cut down at harvest and like grapes crushed in a wine press. The overflow of the vats shows that many people will be punished. Similar imagery to describe judgment is found in Isa 17.5; 63.1-3; Matt 13.39; Rev 14.14-20.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Joel 3:13

3:13a Swing the sickle,

⌊It is time to⌋ use the sickles/knives! ⌊Cut (plur.) the crops,⌋
-or-
Cut (plur.) them down,

3:13b for the harvest is ripe.

for ⌊the grain⌋ is ripe/ready for harvest.
-or-
for ⌊they are like a grain/crop field⌋ that it is time to harvest/cut.

3:13c Come, trample the grapes,

Enter (plur.) ⌊the winepress⌋ and trample/crush the grapes!
-or-
Come (plur.), crush them as you would crush grapes ⌊to obtain juice/wine⌋ .

3:13d for the winepress is full;

The winepress is so full
-or-
The storage basins are completely filled ⌊with grapes⌋

3:13e the wine vats overflow

that the wine containers/troughs overflow!
-or-
and ⌊the juice/wine⌋ spills from its containers/troughs!

3:13f because their wickedness is great.

And the nations also are full, full of wickedness!
-or-
And the evil deeds that they have done are also too many/numerous!

3:13a–f (reordered)

They are filled with evil deeds just as stone basins get filled ⌊with grapes⌋ and wine vats/containers overflow ⌊with grape juice⌋ . And ⌊they are ready for punishment⌋ like a grain field that is ready for harvest. So you (plur.) should cut them down in the same way as you harvest grain. You (plur.) should crush them as you trample/crush grapes ⌊to get juice/wine⌋ .”

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