Yoel 1:9-13

1:9 No one brings grain offerings or drink offerings

to the temple ¹  of the Lord anymore. ² 

So the priests, those who serve the Lord, are in mourning.

1:10 The crops of the fields ³  have been destroyed. ⁴ 

The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished.

The fresh wine has dried up;

the olive oil languishes.

1:11 Be distressed, ⁵  farmers;

wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley.

For the harvest of the field has perished.

1:12 The vine has dried up;

the fig tree languishes –

the pomegranate, date, and apple ⁶  as well.

In fact, ⁷  all the trees of the field have dried up.

Indeed, the joy of the people ⁸  has dried up!

1:13 Get dressed ⁹  and lament, you priests!

Wail, you who minister at the altar!

Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God,

because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings

to the temple of your God anymore. ¹⁰ 

Yoel 1:16-18

1:16 Our food has been cut off right before our eyes! ¹¹ 

There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God! ¹² 

1:17 The grains of seed ¹³  have shriveled beneath their shovels. ¹⁴ 

Storehouses have been decimated

and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.

1:18 Listen to the cattle groan! ¹⁵ 

The herds of livestock wander around in confusion ¹⁶ 

because they have no pasture.

Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

[1:9]  ¹ tn Heb “house.” So also in vv. 13, 14, 16.

[1:9]  ² tn Heb “grain offering and drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord,”

[1:10]  ³ tn Heb “the field has been utterly destroyed.” The term “field,” a collective singular for “fields,” is a metonymy for crops produced by the fields.

[1:10]  ⁴ tn Joel uses intentionally alliterative language in the phrases שֻׁדַּד שָׂדֶה (shuddad sadeh, “the field is destroyed”) and אֲבְלָה אֲדָמָה (’avlah ’adamah, “the ground is in mourning”).

[1:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “embarrassed”; or “be ashamed.”

[1:12]  ⁶ tn This Hebrew word וְתַפּוּחַ (vÿtappuakh) probably refers to the apple tree (so most English versions), but other suggestions that scholars have offered include the apricot, citron, or quince.

[1:12]  ⁷ tn These words are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “the sons of man.”

[1:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “put on.” There is no object present in the Hebrew text, but many translations assume “sackcloth” to be the understood object of the verb “put on.” Its absence in the Hebrew text of v. 13 is probably due to metrical considerations. The meter here is 3 + 3, and that has probably influenced the prophet’s choice of words.

[1:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.”

[1:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Has not the food been cut off right before our eyes?” This rhetorical question expects an affirmative answer; the question has been translated as an affirmation for the sake of clarity and emphasis.

[1:16]  ¹² tn Heb “joy and gladness from the house of our God?” Verse 16b is a continuation of the rhetorical question begun in v. 16a, but has been translated as an affirmative statement to make the meaning clear. The words “There is no longer any” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ¹³ 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.

[1:17]  ¹⁴ 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.”

[1:17]  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).

[1:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “how the cattle groan!”

[1:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the herds of cattle are confused.” The verb בּוּךְ (bukh, “be confused”) sometimes refers to wandering aimlessly in confusion (cf. Exod 14:3).