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They[a] charge[b] like warriors;
they scale walls like soldiers.[c]
Each one proceeds on his course;
they do not alter[d] their path.

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 2:7 sn Since the invaders are compared to warriors, this suggests that they are not actually human but instead an army of locusts.
  2. Joel 2:7 tn Heb “run.”
  3. Joel 2:7 tn Heb “men of battle.”
  4. Joel 2:7 tc The translation reads יְעַבְּתוּן (yeʿabbetun) for MT יְעַבְּטוּן (yeʿabbetun). The verb found in MT (עָבַט, ʿavat) means “take or give a pledge” (cf. Deut 15:6, 8; 24:10) and does not fit the context. Some scholars have proposed various emendations: (1) יְעַוְּתוּן (yeʿavvetun, “they make crooked”); (2) יָטּוּן (yattun, “they turn aside”); (3) יָעַוּוּן (yaʿavvun, “they err”); and (4) יְעַבְּתוּן (adopted in the present translation) from the root I עָבַת (ʿavat, “to twist, pervert”) or II עָבַת (ʿavat, “to change, abandon”). KBL adopt the latter option, but the only biblical evidence for this is the problematic reference in Joel 2:7. Another option is to view it as a variant of the root חבט (khavat, “turn aside from”), a meaning attested for the Arabic cognate. The difference in spelling would be due to the interchange of the guttural letters khet (ח) and ayin (ע). This may lay behind LXX rendering ἐκκλίνωσιν (ekklinōsin; cf. Syriac Peshitta: nstwn and Vg: declinabunt). See S. F. Whitley, “ʿbt in Joel 2, 7, ” Bib 65 (1984): 101-2.