Joel 1:18

18 Why wailed a beast? why lowed the flocks of oxen and kine? for no pasture is to them; but also the flocks of sheep perished. (Why do the beasts wail? why do the herds of oxen and cattle bellow? because there is no pasture for them; and the flocks of sheep have also perished.)

Joel 1:18 Meaning and Commentary

Joel 1:18

How do the beasts groan?
&c.] For want of fodder, all green grass and herbs being eaten up by the locusts; or devoured, or trampled upon, and destroyed, by the Chaldeans; and also for want of water to quench their thirst: the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture;
the larger cattle, as oxen; these were in the utmost perplexity, not knowing where to go for food or drink: yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate;
which have shepherds to lead and direct them to pastures, and can feed on commons, where the grass is short, which other cattle cannot; yet even these were in great distress, and wasted away, and were consumed for want of nourishment.

Joel 1:18 In-Context

16 Whether foods perished not before your eyes; gladness and full out joy perished from the house of your God? (All the food hath perished before our eyes; and happiness and rejoicing have departed from the House of our God.)

17 Beasts waxed rotten in their drit. Barns be destroyed, cellars be destroyed, for wheat is shamed. (The seed grew rotten in the dirt, or the dry earth. The barns be empty, and the cellars be bare, for the corn, or the grain, is parched, or dried up.)

18 Why wailed a beast? why lowed the flocks of oxen and kine? for no pasture is to them; but also the flocks of sheep perished. (Why do the beasts wail? why do the herds of oxen and cattle bellow? because there is no pasture for them; and the flocks of sheep have also perished.)

19 Lord, I shall cry to thee, for fire ate the fair things of desert, and flame burnt all the trees of the country. (Lord, I shall cry to thee, for fire ate up the beautiful things of the desert/for fire ate up the pastures of the wilderness, and flames burned down all the trees of the countryside.)

20 But also beasts of the field, as a cornfloor thirsting rain, beheld [up] to thee; for the wells of waters be dried up, and fire devoured the fair things of desert. (And the beasts of the field, like a threshing floor thirsting for rain, looked up to thee; for the water wells be dried up, and fire devoured the beautiful things of the desert/and fire devoured the pastures of the wilderness.)