Joel 1:12

12 The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the date palm, and the apple- all the trees of the orchard-have withered. Indeed, human joy has dried up.

Joel 1:12 Meaning and Commentary

Joel 1:12

The vine is dried up
Withered away, stripped of its leaves and fruits, and its sap and moisture gone: or, "is ashamed" ^F20; to see itself in this condition, and not answer the expectation of its proprietor and dresser: and the fig tree languisheth;
sickens and dies, through the bite of the locusts: the pomegranate tree:
whose fruit is delicious, and of which wine was made: the palm tree also; which bears dates: and the apple tree;
that looks so beautiful, when either in bloom, or laden with fruit, and whose fruit is very grateful to the palate; so that both what were for common use and necessary food, and what were for delight and pleasure, were destroyed by these noisome creatures: [even] all the trees of the field are withered;
for locusts not only devour the leaves and fruits of trees, but hurt the trees themselves; burn them up by touching them, and cause them to wither away and die, both by the saliva and dung, which they leave upon them, as Bochart, from various authors, has proved: because joy is withered away from the sons of men;
this is not given as a reason of the above trees dried up and withered, but of the lamentation of the vinedressers and husbandmen: or else the particle (yk) is merely expletive, or may be rendered, "therefore", or "truly", or "surely" ^F21, "joy is withered", or "ashamed"; it blushes to appear, as it used to do at the time of harvest; but now there was no harvest, and so no joy expressed, as usually was at such times; see ( Isaiah 9:3 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 (hvybwh) "confusa est", V. L. "pudefacta est", Cocceius; "pudet", Drusius.
F21 (yk) "ideo", Grotius; "imo", Piscator; "sane", Mercer.

Joel 1:12 In-Context

10 The fields are destroyed; the land grieves; indeed, the grain is destroyed; the new wine is dried up; and the olive oil fails.

11 Be ashamed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

12 The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the date palm, and the apple- all the trees of the orchard-have withered. Indeed, human joy has dried up.

13 Dress [in sackcloth] and lament, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar. Come and spend the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, because grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.

14 Announce a sacred fast; proclaim an assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land at the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.