Joel 1:2 (YLT)

Passage

Hear this, ye aged ones, And give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land, Hath this been in your days? Or in the days of your fathers?

Nearby Context

Joel 1:1 A word of Jehovah that hath been unto Joel, son of Pethuel:

Joel 1:2 Hear this, ye aged ones, And give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land, Hath this been in your days? Or in the days of your fathers?

Joel 1:3 Concerning it to your sons talk ye, And your sons to their sons, And their sons to another generation.

Joel 1:4 What is left of the palmer-worm, eaten hath the locust, And what is left of the locust, Eaten hath the cankerworm, And what is left of the cankerworm, Eaten hath the caterpillar.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 1's "A word of Jehovah that hath been..." into verse 3's "Concerning it to your sons talk ye...", so "hear" and "aged" 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 "aged" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.