Joel 1:3 (WEB)

Passage

Tell your children about it, and have your children tell their children, and their children, another generation.

Nearby Context

Joel 1:1 Yahweh’s word that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

Joel 1:2 Hear this, you elders, And listen, all you inhabitants of the land. Has this ever happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?

Joel 1:3 Tell your children about it, and have your children tell their children, and their children, another generation.

Joel 1:4 What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten. What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten. What the grasshopper has left, the caterpillar has eaten.

Joel 1:5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "tell", "children", "another", and "generation". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "tell" and "children", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "Hear this you elders And listen all..." into verse 4's "What the swarming locust has left the...", so "tell" and "children" 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 "tell" and "children" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.