Joel 2:12-17 annotated

Joel 2:12-17 (NJB)

'But now -- declares Yahweh- come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning.' Tear  your hearts and not your clothes, and come back to Yahweh your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, and he relents about inflicting disaster. ¹⁴Who knows if he will not come back, relent and leave a blessing behind him, a cereal offering and a libation to be presented to Yahweh your God?

¹⁵Blow the ram's-horn in Zion! Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, ¹⁶call the people together, summon the community, assemble the elders, gather the children, even infants at the breast! Call the bridegroom from his bedroom and the bride from her bower! ¹⁷Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, stand weeping between portico and altar, saying, 'Spare your people, Yahweh! Do not expose your heritage to the contempt, to the sarcasm of the nations! Why give the peoples cause to say, "Where is their God?" ' 

come back= שׁוּב= shuwb

to return, turn back; to turn back (to God), repent; turn back (from evil); to restore, refresh, repair; recall, recompense, recover; reverse; turn about; to turn oneself; restore

all= כֹּל = kol

all, the whole of; totality, everything; all, any or every; of all kinds, every sort; altogether

heart and hearts= לֵבָב = lebab

inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding; mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory; inclination, resolution, determination (of will); seat of appetites; seat of emotions and passions; mode of thinking and acting; will and purpose; intellect

fasting=צוֹם= tsowm; from tsuwm = צוּם

to cover over (the mouth); “the primary idea lies in the mouth being shut;” to abstain from food, fast; 

weeping= בְּכִי = Bĕkiy

to make a great lamentation

mourning= מִסְפֵּד = micped

wailing; a lamentation

tear= קָרַע = qara`

tear in pieces; rend asunder; to rend, literally or figuratively

gracious= חַנּוּן = channuwn

merciful, benignant 

compassionate= רַחוּם = rachuwm; from רָחַם = racham

to love, love deeply, have mercy, be compassionate, have tender affection, have compassion; pity; to love; to behold with tenderest affection; the primary idea seems to be in cherishing, soothing, and in a gentle emotion of the mind

faithful love= חֶסֶד = checed

goodness, kindness, faithfulness; mercy, pity; benevolence; grace, favor

weeping= בָּכָה = bakah

bewail, cry, shed tears; to weep (in grief, humiliation); make lamentation; mourn