Joel 1:17

17 Seeds shrivel up in their shells. Storehouses are destroyed. Barns are ruined. The grain has dried up.

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 This will be a terrible day! The day of the LORD is near, and it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
16 Food disappears right before our eyes. Happiness and rejoicing disappear from our God's temple.
17 Seeds shrivel up in their shells. Storehouses are destroyed. Barns are ruined. The grain has dried up.
18 The animals groan. Herds of cattle wander around confused. There's no pasture for them. Even flocks of sheep are suffering.
19 O LORD, I cry to you for help! Fire has burned up the open pastures. Flames have burned up all the trees in the orchards.
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