But there is still time to avert the completion of the judgment by sincere repentance and mourning; for God is merciful, and ready to forgive the penitent. Joel 2:12. "Yet even now, is the saying of Jehovah, turn ye to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning. Joel 2:13. And rend your heart and not your garments, and turn back to Jehovah your God; for He is gracious and merciful, long-suffering, and great in kindness, and suffers Himself to repent of the evil. Joel 2:14. Who knoweth He turns and repents, and leaves behind Him blessing, meat-offering and drink-offering for Jehovah your God?" As the plague of locusts was intended to bring the people to reflect upon their conduct towards the Lord, so was the announcement of the great day of judgment and all its terrors made with no other object than to produce repentance and conversion, and thereby promote the good of the people of God. Joel therefore appends to the threatening of judgment a summons to sincere conversion to the Lord; and this he does by first of all addressing the summons to the people as a saying of Jehovah (v. 12), and then explaining this word of God in the most emphatic manner (vv. 13, 14). The Lord God requires conversion to Himself with all the heart (cf. 1 Samuel 7:3, and Deuteronomy 6:5; and for שׂוּב עד, Hosea 14:2), associated with deep-rooted penitence on account of sin, which is to be outwardly manifested in fasting and mourning. But lest the people should content themselves with the outward signs of mourning, he proceeds in Joel 2:13 with the warning admonition, "Rend your heart, and not your garments." Rending the heart signifies contrition of heart (cf. Psalm 51:19; Ezekiel 36:26). He then assigns the motive for this demand, by pointing to the mercy and grace of God, in the words of Exodus 34:6, with which the Lord made known to Moses His inmost nature, except that in the place of ואמת, which we find in this passage, he adds, on the ground of the facts recorded in Ezekiel 32:14 and 2 Samuel 24:16, ונחם על הרעה. On the strength of these facts he hopes, even in the present instance, for forgiveness on the part of God, and the removal of the judgment. "Who knoweth?" equivalent to "perhaps;" not because "too confident a hope would have had in it something offensive to Jehovah" (Hitzig), but "lest perchance they might either despair on account of the magnitude of their crimes, or the greatness of the divine clemency might make them careless" (Jerome).

(Note: "He speaks after the manner of a terrified conscience, which is lifted up again with difficulty after a season of affliction, and begins to aspire after hope and the mercy of God. Moreover, the expression 'who knoweth' is a Hebrew phrase, which does not indicate doubt, but rather affirmation, coupled with desire, as if we were to say, 'And yet surely God will turn again.'" - Luther, Enarrat. in Joelem, Opp., Jena 1703, p. iii.)

ישׁוּב, to turn, sc. from coming to judgment. נהם as in Joel 2:13. השׁאיר אחריו, to leave behind Him, sc. when He returns to His throne in heaven (Hosea 5:15). Berâkhâh, a blessing, viz., harvest-produce for a meat-offering and drink-offering, which had been destroyed by the locusts (Joel 1:9, Joel 1:13).

Amos 7:8 Parallel Commentaries

Amos.

Jeremiah 1:11-13 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what see you? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree...

Zechariah 5:2 And he said to me, What see you? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits...

a plumbline. This was an emblem of strict justice; and intimated that God would now visit them according to their iniquities.

I will set.

Lamentations 2:8 The LORD has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he has stretched out a line...

I will not.

Amos 8:2 And he said, Amos, what see you? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD to me...

Jeremiah 15:6 You have forsaken me, said the LORD, you are gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against you, and destroy you...

Ezekiel 7:2-9 Also, you son of man, thus said the Lord GOD to the land of Israel; An end, the end is come on the four corners of the land...

Micah 7:18 Who is a God like to you, that pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?...

Nahum 1:8,9 But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies...