Joel 1:17

17 The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods.[a]The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up.

Joel 1:17 in Other Translations

KJV
17 The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
ESV
17 The seed shrivels under the clods; the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are torn down because the grain has dried up.
NLT
17 The seeds die in the parched ground, and the grain crops fail. The barns stand empty, and granaries are abandoned.
MSG
17 The seeds in the field are dead, barns deserted, Grain silos abandoned. Who needs them? The crops have failed!
CSB
17 The seeds lie shriveled in their casings. The storehouses are in ruin, and the granaries are broken down, because the grain has withered away.

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 Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
16 Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes— joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods.The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up.
18 How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
19 To you, LORD, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.

Cross References 1

  • 1. S Isaiah 17:10-11

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
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