Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119:105)
Preparing them for Times of Trauma and Suffering
1. I have been studying the poetic structure of the Psalms and have been amazed at the extra insight and teaching this study has produced so have wondered if something similar will happen if the other Old Testament Scriptures that are set out in a poetic form are subjected to a similar analysis.
2. This study of Joel is my first attempt at this task.
3. However, Joel is significantly longer than any of the psalms I have studied and, I suspect, has a different purpose, so that may mean there will be new patterns to discover.
4. Most modern translations set out the text in a poetic format but some adopt an English format that bears little relationship to the original Hebrew format so miss out on some keys ways of understanding the text. Following the Hebrew format is important as the main features of Hebrew poetry are essential parts of the message being proclaimed.
5. That these features are translatable into other languages is amazing and very special as it means that the heart language of Yahweh’s people living thousands of years ago is available for us to read, absorb and appreciate in our own heart language. Is that not stunning? I see this as an aspect of Yahweh’s inspiration of Scripture, so God’s Word speaks into our heart and emotions as well as our intellect.
6. The chapter and verse structure of our Bibles are medieval European inventions that are very helpful for navigating Scripture but are quite arbitrary so rarely help understanding of the author’s intended structure. They must be ignored when trying to discern this.
7. Instead, we need to read Hebrew poetry in ‘lines.’ However, in this context a ‘line’ does not refer to a line on a page which can vary according to the size of the page. It is a poetic line that is composed of two or more parts and is the psalmist’s creation.
8. To illustrate, here is Joel 1:2-3a in poetic format:
| 2 Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers? | Joel addresses both leaders and the people about unprecedented events. |
| 3 Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. | Joel’s message was so important it must be transmitted through all future generations. |
9. Each line has parts and the second and subsequent parts are inset but there is only one ‘idea’ that is stated in the first part then repeated, contrasted or developed in subsequent parts.
10. Often lines are grouped together in a strophe to express a single idea. Strophes are the core ‘building blocks’ in Hebrew poetry.
11. Verse two is a two-line strophe while verse three has only one line but with three parts. Occasionally a line has only one part and rarely more than three.
12. Having identified the strophes the next stage is to identify the pattern in which the strophes are set. This is based on parallelism between matching or contrasting strophes, so the idea expressed is repeated, contrasted or developed.
13. This is illustrated in this comparison between strophes B and B1:
| B | 2 Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers? | Yahweh’s word is for both community leaders and all the people. It highlights that what is happening is an unprecedented catastrophe (yet locust invasions were not uncommon). |
| B1 | Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of Yahweh your God, and cry out to Yahweh. | Yahweh’s calls both leaders and all the people to gather at his place of worship and cry out to him. |
Notice that the key parallel words are in bold (in more complicated set ups colour coding is used) and to emphasise the line structure I use a smaller font for extra-long lines.
14. In Message 1 there is a similar pairing between other strophes: A-A1, C-C1, D-D1 leaving a single strophe in the centre. This is labelled X as it is not only central in the poetic structure but also in the teaching of the Message.
15. This structure is very common in the Psalms so would be readily identified and understood by the original recipients. More complicated patterns are discernible in the other Messages but they still follow the principles that are seen in the Psalms.
16. Following these principles enables the identification of 4 Messages in Joel. Message 3 has the same pattern as Message 1 while Messages 2 and 4 are a little more complicated. They use an intermediary stage called a Stanza that are numbered consecutively. Stanzas are subsections of a large Psalm or a Joel Message and each have their own theme that is an aspect of the overall theme of the Psalm or Message.
17. I call these four subsections of Joel, ‘Messages,’ as that is what I think they were.
18. When Joel composed his Messages the nation was going through horrendous trouble that could lead to famine, and potentially worse trouble was looming over the horizon. Yet, even though the King and the national leadership were going badly astray worshipping false gods and allowing, even encouraging, social disorder, there were godly people who worshipped Yahweh and sought to live righteous lives. These are the people Joel addresses. We can infer this from studying Joel’s Messages in their poetic structure.
19. I think that Joel, and probably teams of prophets, spread out around the country sharing these Messages as opportunities presented. If we had to do this in our day, we would probably take Message 1 to an individual local community and spend a week or more sharing, teaching, discussing and putting into practise what was learnt. We would then move on to the next community and repeat the process – but every community would be left with a summary of Message 1 – just as we have it in the Book of Joel! Return visits would be made, repeating the process with each of the other 3 Messages.
20. This is not a ‘plucked out of the air’ supposition. As a scientist, I call it a hypothesis, as it is a tentative explanation that is based on observation and it is likely to be testable and investigated further – but that is for another day and perhaps, other people. Bear this in mind as you work through these studies.
21. I have chosen to use NIVUK, 1984 version, as it is the version I am most familiar with and it maintains some Hebrew idioms, rather than anglicise them as in the latest digitalised 2011 version.
22. You will notice that I use ‘Yahweh,’ instead of ‘the LORD,’ that is used in most Bible translations. This is to enhance the authenticity of this study as ‘Yahweh’ is the way Joel would have referred to God. It is a name and not a title. An explanation is available in Yahweh.
23. I will expand these pages with a commentary but for now see for yourself what the poetic structure reveals.
24. Take your time. Read it consecutively but also read matching strophes together.
25. As best you can, consider what each Message would mean to the original participants. And only then consider what it means to you in your circumstances. Let Yahweh’s word speak into your life.
26. If you are so inclined I will love to hear from you about your insight or further ideas.
Use the link to go to Joel – Message 1: poetic structure.
Written: 1 October 2026
Published: 15 October 2026