The grains of seed ¹  have shriveled beneath their shovels. ²  Storehouses have been decimated and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.

biblegateway Joe 1:17

The seeds shrivel under their clods; The storehouses are desolate, The barns are torn down, For the grain is dried up.

The seeds lie shriveled in their casings. The storehouses are in ruin, and the granaries are broken down, because the grain has withered away.

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

biblegateway Joe 1:17

The seeds are shrivelled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up.

The seed shrivels under the clods; the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are torn down because the grain has dried up.

bibleoremus Joe 1:17

The seed shrivels under the clods, the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are ruined because the grain has failed.

Under the clods the seeds have shrivelled, the water-channels are dry, the barns lie in ruins; for the harvests have come to naught.

biblegateway Joe 1:17

The seed shrivels under the clods, Storehouses are in shambles; Barns are broken down, For the grain has withered.

The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.

biblegateway Joe 1:17

The grains of seed ¹  have shriveled beneath their shovels. ²  Storehouses have been decimated and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.

¹ tn Heb “seed.” The phrase “the grains of” does not appear in the Hebrew, but has been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

² tc This line is textually uncertain. The MT reads “the seed shrivels in their shovels/clods.” One Qumran manuscript (4QXXII^c) reads “the heifers decay in [their] s[talls].” LXX reads “the heifers leap in their stalls.”

² tn These two lines of v. 17 comprise only four words in the Hebrew; three of the four are found only here in the OT. The translation and meaning are rather uncertain. A number of English versions render the word translated “shovels” as “clods,” referring to lumps of soil (e.g., KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).