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 .