Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness spring up, for the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
Parallel Translations
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Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness spring up, for the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
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Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
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Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth its fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength.
Cross-references (24)
Passages linked to Joel 2:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Zechariah 8:12 “For the seed of peace and the vine will yield its fruit, and the ground will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.
- Psalms 65:12 The wilderness grasslands overflow. The hills are clothed with gladness.
- Psalms 67:6 The earth has yielded its increase. God, even our own God, will bless us.
- Psalms 107:35-38 He turns a desert into a pool of water, and a dry land into water springs. There he makes the hungry live, that they may prepare a city to live in, sow fields, plant vineyards, and reap the fruits of increase. He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly. He doesn’t allow their livestock to decrease.
- Psalms 145:15-16 The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season. You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
- Psalms 147:8-9 who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains. He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.
- Isaiah 30:23-24 He will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground will be rich and plentiful. In that day, your livestock will feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that till the ground will eat savory feed, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork.
- Isaiah 51:3 For Yahweh has comforted Zion. He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Yahweh. Joy and gladness will be found in them, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
- Joel 1:18-20 How the animals groan! The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture. Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. Yahweh, I cry to you, For the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field. Yes, the animals of the field pant to you, for the water brooks have dried up, And the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
- Amos 9:14-15 I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,” says Yahweh your God.
- Genesis 4:12 From now on, when you till the ground, it won’t yield its strength to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth.”
- Leviticus 26:4-5 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall continue until the vintage, and the vintage shall continue until the sowing time. You shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
- Psalms 36:6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. Yahweh, you preserve man and animal.
- Psalms 104:11-14 They give drink to every animal of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the sky nest by them. They sing among the branches. He waters the mountains from his rooms. The earth is filled with the fruit of your works. He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth:
- Psalms 104:27-29 These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season. You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good. You hide your face; they are troubled. You take away their breath; they die and return to the dust.
- Ezekiel 34:26-27 I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing. I will cause the shower to come down in its season. There will be showers of blessing. The tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them.
- Ezekiel 36:8 “ ‘ “But you, mountains of Israel, you shall shoot out your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come.
- Ezekiel 36:30 I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, that you may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations.
- Ezekiel 36:35 They will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’
- Jonah 4:11 Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much livestock?”
- Haggai 2:16 Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty.
- 1 Corinthians 3:7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
- Hosea 14:5-7 I will be like the dew to Israel. He will blossom like the lily, and send down his roots like Lebanon. His branches will spread, and his beauty will be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon. Men will dwell in his shade. They will revive like the grain, and blossom like the vine. Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.
- Malachi 3:10-12 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough for. I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field,” says Yahweh of Armies. “All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says Yahweh of Armies.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Here the Prophet turns his address to the beasts;…
Here the Prophet turns his address to the beasts; not that his instruction suited them; but it was a more efficacious mode of speaking, when he invited the very beasts to a participation of the people’s joy; for except the Jews had been made to know that God’s wrath was now nigh at hand, no consolation which the Prophet has hitherto applied would have been of any weight with them. But now since they perceived that God’s wrath did not only suspend over them, but extended much farther, even to the beasts, and since the Lord would have mercy on them, so that his blessing would be partaken in common by the beasts and brute animals, the address was far more impressive. We hence see that the Prophet, for the best reason, directed his discourse to the very beasts, though destitute of mind and discernment. For in addressing brute animals he addressed men with double force; that is, he impressed their minds more effectually, so that they might seriously confess how great was God’s wrath, and also how great would be his blessing.
Beasts, he says, fear not. Then the beasts of the field ought to have dreaded the judgment of God which he had before denounced; for except God had been pacified to his people, the fire of his wrath would have consumed the whole land, trees and pastures; so all the beasts must have been famished. But now when God is reconciled to his people, his blessing will smile on the brute animals. What then is to be said of men? For God is properly propitious to them, and not to brute animals. We hence see that the fruit of reconciliation is made more evident, when it is in part extended to the brute creation.
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He therefore says, Fear not, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the desert will grow, the trees will bring forth their fruit. By these words the Prophet intimates, that had God’s wrath toward his people been implacable, the sterility of the land would not have been improved. Now then whence came so sudden a change that the pastures grew, that the trees produced their fruits, both the fig-tree and the vine, except that God was pleased to bless the land, after having received men into favor? We now then apprehend the meaning of the Prophet, even this, — that the land would be made by an angry God to execute his judgment, and that there would be no remedy for the barrenness of the land until men propitiated God. This is the sum of the whole. It now follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Joe 2:22 Be not afraid, ye beasts of the…
Joe 2:22 Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
Ver. 22. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field] q.d. Ye shall have no cause to fear for the future: though hitherto ye have suffered hardship, Joe 1:18. Beasts and birds do in diem vivere to live for the day, (as Quintilian saith of them), and take no further thought than for present sustenance. But by a personification (as before the land, so here) the beasts that till it are forbidden to fear want; for God, the great housekeeper of the world, will provide them their meat in due season, Psa 104:27-28, and several meats according to their various appetites. He will hear the heaven, the heaven shall hear the earth, the earth shall bear all kind of fruits, both natural, as herbs of the field and grass of the wilderness, and such as are sown and planted, as wine, oil, figs; so that neither man nor beast shall want anything ad esum, vel ad usum, to eat or to use but have plenty without penury, &c. It shall be said of Judea, as Solinus saith of Spain, In Hispania nihil infructuosum, nihil sterile, that there is no unfruitfulness in any part of it; or, as it is said of Campania, in Italy, that it is the most fruitful plat of earth that is in the universe.
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The fig tree and the vine] That before had been barked and wasted, Joe 1:7; Joe 1:12,
do yield their strength] i.e. their utmost fruits; which they could not do without God, into whom therefore the prophet Hosea rightly resolveth the genealogy of grain, wine, oil, &c., Hos 2:22. It is no otherwise with us in spiritual regards. For though we have grace, yet we cannot bring forth that grace to act without new grace; like as trees, though they be fitted to bear fruits, yet, without the influence of the heavens, they cannot put forth that fitness in fruit. Nolentem praevenit Deus ut velit: volentem subsequitur, ne frustra velit (Aug. Enchir. chap. 32).
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field. In…
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field. In Joe 1:18-20, the poor beasts were represented as in greatest perplexity, for want of pasture they were like to perish; but now they are (as if capable of fears or joy from foresight of what was coming toward them) encouraged, they should find pasture, both the tamer which are under man’s hand, and the wilder which range the mountains.
The pastures of the wilderness: see Joe 1:19. Do spring; begin to look green, and the grass fresh promise the food for you. The tree beareth her fruit; all sorts of trees, though they were withered, and seemed to be dead, Joe 1:12, now they recover their strength and bring forth fruit.
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The fig tree does not, as Joe 1:12, languish.
The vine is not, as before, dried up, but with change of season hath changed its hue.
Do yield their strength; both these trees do mightily bear, are full of fruit, and bring forth as much as ever they are able to stand under.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field,.... Which…
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field,.... Which before groaned, and were perplexed for want of pasture, and cried because of the drought, Joe 1:18; perhaps the Gentiles may be here designed, in the mystic and spiritual sense, in distinction from the Jews, the children of Zion, in Joe 2:23;
for the pastures of the wilderness do spring; grass in abundance springs up in them, and covers them, so that there was plenty of food for the beasts of the field:
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for the tree beareth her fruit; brings forth and bears fruit suitable to it, agreeable to its nature:
the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength; send forth their branches, put forth their buds, their leaves and fruit. This and the preceding clause cannot be understood as a reason why the beasts of the field should not be afraid, for they relate not to them, but to men; and may serve to confirm the mystic sense of the words, as they may refer to the great fruitfulness produced in the wilderness of the Gentile world, through the preaching of the Gospel in the times of the Messiah; which are more clearly pointed at in Joe 2:23; and which were introduced with great outward peace and plenty; and the Jews (f) by the tree bearing her fruit, in the preceding clause, understand barren trees bearing fruit.
(f) T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 112. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Their strength - Bring forth as much as they…
Their strength - Bring forth as much as they are able to stand under.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The reversal of the whole former sentence is continued…
The reversal of the whole former sentence is continued up to man. The beasts of the field “groaned, were perplexed, cried” unto God; now they are bidden, “be not afraid;” before, “the pastures of the wilderness were devoured by fire;” now, they “spring” with fresh tender life; before, “the fig tree” was “withered, the vine languished;” now, they should “yield their strength, put out their full” vigor. For God was reconciled to His people; and all things served them, serving Him.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Strength; fruit, as formerly.
Strength; fruit, as formerly.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Zac 8:12). As before (Joe 1:18, Joe 1:20) he…
(Zac 8:12). As before (Joe 1:18, Joe 1:20) he represented the beasts as groaning and crying for want of food in the "pastures," so now he reassures them by the promise of springing pastures.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 22. The beasts of the field, whose sufferings were…
22. The beasts of the field, whose sufferings were described in Joe_1:18; Joe_1:20 need now fear no longer: the “pastures of the wilderness,” which but recently were burnt up (Joe_1:19), will now soon begin to spring.
spring] lit. have young grass: the verb being cognate with the word for “young grass,” Gen_1:11 (“let the earth grass forth young grass”), 12; Psa_23:2 (lit. “pastures of young grass”).
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the fig tree and the vine] which were described as ravaged in Joe_1:7; Joe_1:12. The tenses in this verse are in the Hebrew perfects, to be explained as the perfect in Joe_2:21.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field. The…
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field. The dumb animals had groaned in distress for food, but now they too have cause to rejoice, and are here called on to do so; and the suitable cause in their case is also specified. It is as follows: For the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. He thus specifies the ground of gladness in their case also, pointing to the fresh green of the pastures and the fruit hanging in rich abundance and variety on the trees. The fruits of vines and fig trees are net, it is true, the food of the beasts of the fields; but the revival of vegetation in trees, the higher and larger growths, the chief factor in which is moisture, comprehends the revival of the smaller growths of herbs, grasses, and plants, the proper sustenance of cattle. Kimchi"s explanation is that "as the tree bears its fruit in the inhabited part of the world, so in the wilderness the places of pasture grow green." Aben Ezra, who never loses an opportunity of directing attention to contrasts wherever they exist, contrasts "Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field," in this verse with "the beasts of the field cry also unto thee" at the close of the preceding chapter; also "the pastures of the wilderness do spring" with "the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness;" likewise "the tree beareth her fruit" with "all the trees of the field are withered." It has been observed that all plants, even shrubs and trees, spring up at the first as the fresh young juicy green of plants, avD; then they develop into qry or ryxij, grass: into herb, bce; and into tree, xe yrc is not the plural for but singular, after the analogy of ymv. (Psa_96:12) Nasaperi, equivalent to "lift up, bear," is more poetical than asah peri, equivalent to "make fruit;" so in Latin, surgunt fruges. The expression, "yield their strength," puts the cause for the effect; the strength of the tree produces the fruit and centres in it.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.