Joel 1:17

17 Rotted have scattered things under their clods, Desolated have been storehouses, Broken down have been granaries, For withered hath the corn.

Joel 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.

Joel 1:17 In-Context

15 And cry unto Jehovah, `Alas for the day! For near [is] a day of Jehovah, And as destruction from the mighty it cometh.
16 Is not before our eyes food cut off? From the house of our God joy and rejoicing?
17 Rotted have scattered things under their clods, Desolated have been storehouses, Broken down have been granaries, For withered hath the corn.
18 How have cattle sighed! Perplexed have been droves of oxen, For there is no pasture for them, Also droves of sheep have been desolated.
19 Unto Thee, O Jehovah, I do call, For fire hath consumed comely places of a wilderness, And a flame hath set on fire all trees of the field.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.