Even the wild beasts cry to thee: The wild beasts are the nondomesticated animals that live in forests and on plains. New Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation say “wild animals.” The Hebrew verb translated cry is different from word rendered “cry” in verse 19. The verb here literally refers to the longing that a thirsty person or animal has for water (see Psa 42.1, where a deer longs for streams of water). However, the prophet substitutes to thee as the goal of the longing in place of water itself, signifying that the LORD is the ultimate source of refreshment. It is to God that people and animals must look for supplying their needs (compare Psa 145.15-16). For this whole line New Jerusalem Bible has “Even the wild animals pant loudly for you.” Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation personify the wild animals as “crying” to God, since the Hebrew figurative language here does not translate easily into English. It seems that in poetry many languages can do the same. If the personification is unnatural or unacceptable in the receptor language, translators can turn it into a simile by rephrasing the line as follows: “Even the wild animals are like people who cry out to you.” However, such a solution tends to result in a loss of poetic impact.

Because the water brooks are dried up: This is why the wild animals cry out to God. Good News Translation translates water brooks as “streams,” which are basically small rivers. Translators may say “rivers” because of the poetic exaggeration in this section.

And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness: These two lines are repeated almost exactly in Hebrew from lines two and three of verse 19, forming a kind of refrain for emphasis and poetic effect. Such repetition is acceptable in Hebrew but not necessarily in receptor languages. Since it may sound awkward in English here, Good News Translation omits these lines.

Quoted with permission from de Blois, Kees & Dorn, Louis. A Handbook on Joel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .