Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch begin a new stanza or a new section with verse 14. Since Yahweh is no longer the speaker, this seems to be a good place for a break. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch uses a section heading to describe the rest of the chapter: “The coming splendor of Judah and Jerusalem.” However, the contents of verses 14-17 include the themes of the day of Yahweh and his judgment on the nations, so the Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch section heading does not adequately describe these verses.

Multitudes, multitudes: The Hebrew word for multitudes refers to a crowd of people, usually noisy and disorganized, so Revised English Bible says “A noisy throng.” The repetition of the word emphasizes their large number. Good News Translation says “Thousands and thousands,” which is intended to refer to an indefinite number. Following the Septuagint, some scholars believe that in this context the term includes the noise of battle; for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “I hear the noise of a huge army.” But such a meaning would be secondary, not primary. The multitudes may have come for a battle (verses 9-12), but now they are simply a huge mob of people. After verse 12 there is no explicit reference to a battle.

In the valley of decision: The Hebrew word for decision implies that a final, unchangeable decision is made. Although the word is different from the one for “judgment” in verse 2, the ideas are closely related and imply that God’s judgment will be final. Valley of decision is an alternate name for “valley of Jehoshaphat” in verses 2 and 12. Good News Translation uses the same name for this valley in order to keep its identity clear: “Valley of Judgment.”

Revised Standard Version translates the first two lines as an exclamation, but Good News Translation does not. The Hebrew may be translated either way.

For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision: The day of the LORD is the time of God’s judgment. This is the final and universal judgment, not the partial and local judgment of the locust plague and drought in Judah, which was a partial and local day of Yahweh (1.15; 2.1). For the day of the LORD is near is exactly the same as the second line in 1.15 (see the comments there). Here the day occurs in the valley of decision, meaning that the judgment which God will carry out will take place in that symbolic valley. In this verse it is easy to see that the day of the LORD is an event, not a day on the calendar, for this event is to occur in the valley. This line may be rendered “For the day of the LORD [or, LORD’s punishment] will come soon in the valley of decision.”

The repetition of in the valley of decision emphasizes the certainty and the finality of the judgment. In many languages such repetition is unnatural. Good News Translation replaces the second occurrence of this phrase with “there” (also Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). New Jerusalem Bible uses “in the Valley of Decision” for the first occurrence and “in the Valley of the Verdict” for the second one. However, in some languages a similar change may be confusing.

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 .