Scholars have assigned a wide range of dates to the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Joel, which derives its name from the prophet Joel, as the book contains no explicit references to datable persons or events.

It is probably composed between 400 and 350 (although some scholars place it much earlier, in the ninth to seventh centuries).

The book’s first section (1:1-2:17) recounts a plague of locusts and a drought that ravaged Judah as a symbol of divine judgment.

The second (2:18-3:21) promises the outpouring of the spirit of the Lord for Judah’s entire population and declares final judgment on all nations, with protection and fertility for Judah and Jerusalem.