Yoel 1:17

17 The seed is rotten under their clods, the otzarot (storehouses) are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain is withered.

Yoel 1:17 Meaning and Commentary

Joel 1:17

The seed is rotten under their clods
Or "grains" F26 of wheat or barley, which had been sown, and, for want of rain, putrefied and wasted away under the clods of earth, through the great drought; so that what with locusts, which cropped that that did bud forth, and with the drought, by reason of which much of the seed sown came to nothing, an extreme famine ensued: the Targum is,

``casks of wine rotted under their coverings:''
the garners are desolate;
the "treasuries" F1, or storehouses, having nothing in them, and there being nothing to put into them; Jarchi makes these to be peculiar for wine and oil, both which failed, ( Joel 1:10 ) ; the barns are broken down;
in which the wheat and barley had used to be laid up; but this judgment of the locusts and drought continuing year after year, the walls fell down, and, no care was taken to repair them, there being no, use for them; these were the granaries, and, as Jarchi, for wheat particularly: for the corn is withered;
that which sprung up withered and dried away, through the heat and drought: or was "ashamed" F2; not answering the expectation of the sower.
FOOTNOTES:

F26 (twdrp) "grana", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Tarnovius, Cocceius, Bochartus. So Ben Melech, who observes they are so called, because they are separated and scattered under the earth.
F1 (twrua) "thesauri", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Vatablus, Piscator.
F2 (vybwh) "confusum est", V. L. "puduit", Drusius; "pudore afficit", Cocceius.

Yoel 1:17 In-Context

15 Alas for the day! For the Yom Hashem [see Isa13: 9-13; Am 5:18-20; 8:9-14; Zeph 1:14-23 on the coming Day of the L-rd when Hashem intervenes to execute mishpat and righteousness] is karov (near, at hand), and like destruction from Shaddai shall it come.
16 Is not the okhel (food) cut off before our eyes, yea, simchah (joy) and gladness from the Beis Eloheinu [the Beis Hamikdash]?
17 The seed is rotten under their clods, the otzarot (storehouses) are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain is withered.
18 How do the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the edrei hatzon (flocks of sheep) are made desolate.
19 To Thee, Hashem, will I cry; for the eish hath devoured the pastures of the midbar, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
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