Joel 1:2 (DBY)

Passage

Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?

Nearby Context

Joel 1:1 The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

Joel 1:2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?

Joel 1:3 Tell your children of it, and [let] your children [tell] their children, and their children another generation:

Joel 1:4 that which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "hear", "give", "inhabitants", "land", "hath", "been", "days", and "even". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "hear" and "give", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 1's "The word of Jehovah that came to..." into verse 3's "Tell your children of it and let...", so "hear" and "give" belong inside that flow. In Joel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "hear" and "give" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.