Joel 1:10

10 For the plains languish: let the land mourn, for the corn languishes; the wine is dried up, the oil becomes scarce;

Joel 1:10 Meaning and Commentary

Joel 1:10

The field is wasted
By the locust, that eat up all green things, the grass and herbs, the fruit and leaves of trees; and also by the Chaldeans trampling on it with their horses, and the increase of which became fodder for them: the land mourneth;
being destitute, nothing growing upon it, and so looked dismally, and of a horrid aspect; or the inhabitants of it, for want of provision: for the corn is wasted;
by the locusts, and so by the Assyrian or Chaldean army, before it came to perfection: the new wine is dried up:
in the grape, through the drought after mentioned: or, "is ashamed" F18; not answering the expectations of men, who saw it in the cluster, promising much, but failed: the oil languisheth;
or "sickens" F19; the olive trees withered; the olives fell off, as the Targum, and so the oil failed: the corn, wine, and oil, are particularly mentioned, not only as being the chief support of human life, as Kimchi observes, and so the loss of them must be matter of lamentation to the people in general; but because of these the meat and drink offerings were, and therefore the priests in particular had reason to mourn.


FOOTNOTES:

F18 (vybwh) "erubuit", Tigurine version, Mercer, Liveleus; "puduit", Drusius, Tarnovius; "pudefit", Cocceius.
F19 (llma) "infirmatum est", Montanus. So some in Vatablus.

Joel 1:10 In-Context

8 Lament to me more than a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9 The meat-offering and drink-offering are removed from the house of the Lord: mourn, ye priests that serve at the altar of the Lord.
10 For the plains languish: let the land mourn, for the corn languishes; the wine is dried up, the oil becomes scarce;
11 the husbandmen are consumed: mourn your property on account of the wheat and barley; for the harvest has perished from off the field.
12 The vine is dried up, and the fig-trees are become few; the pomegranate, and palm-tree, and apple, and all trees of the field are dried up: for the sons of men have have abolished joy.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.