Intertextuality Pair

Joel 2:13 → Exodus 34:6

Quotation

Later text

Joel 2:13BSB

So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. And He relents from sending disaster.

Earlier text

Exodus 34:6BSB

Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: "The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,

Significance

Joel 2:13 directly quotes the divine attribute formula first revealed at Sinai: חַנּוּן וְרַחוּם (channun werachum, "gracious and compassionate"), אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם (erekh appayim, "slow to anger"), and רַב־חֶסֶד (rav-chesed, "abounding in loving devotion"). By placing this Exodus 34:6 creedal statement in a call to repentance, Joel appeals to Yahweh's self-revealed character as the ground for Israel's hope that judgment may be averted. Joel adds the distinctive clause וְנִחָם עַל־הָרָעָה (wenicham al-hara'ah, "and He relents from sending disaster"), which extends the Sinai formula toward the prophetic theme of divine responsiveness to repentance. This demonstrates how later prophets treated the Exodus 34:6 formula as the foundational confession of Yahweh's character, to be invoked whenever Israel needed assurance of God's mercy.

Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Direct Quotation
Connection Method(s)
Longitudinal Theme

▸ The Attribute Formula

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