Joel 1:17
in Joel 1The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods; the storehouses are in ruins; the granaries are broken down, for the grain has withered away.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The seeds rot under their clods; the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain is withered.
KJV
The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
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This verse in Joel 1
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Verse 17, 18.) The animals have trampled in their own dung; the barns have been destroyed, the storehouses have been scattered, because the grain has been mixed up; why does the animal groan, why do the herds of cattle moo? Because there is no pasture for them; and the flocks of sheep have also perished. LXX: The calves have jumped in their stalls; the treasuries have been scattered, the wine presses have been buried, because the grain has dried up; what shall we put aside for ourselves?
This site's exposition
Alas for the day
on Joel 1:15-18
The cry "Alas for the day" opens the book's refrain, "the Day of the LORD is near", which returns at 2:1, 2:11 and 3:14. In Hebrew "destruction from the Almighty" is a wordplay, shod mishaddai, the noun sounding like the divine name Shaddai.
This site's exposition
The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods
Drought now finishes what the locusts began. Seed sown in hope shrivels in dry ground, and the empty storehouses fall into ruin. Jerome reads the verse with the next, the barns destroyed and the cattle left without pasture.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
What is a basket of dung, except the memory of sins? For the sins of the flesh are called dung. Hence it is also said through the prophet: "The beasts have rotted in their dung." For the beasts to rot in their dung is for carnal people to end their lives in the stench of luxury.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The seed is rotten under their clods,....
This Joel was long after that. He here speaks of a sad and sore judgment which was now brought, or to be brought, upon Judah, for their sins. The greatness of the judgment, expressed here in two things:-- 1.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
is rotten--"is dried up," "vanishes away," from an Arabic root [MAURER]. "Seed," literally, "grains." The drought causes the seeds to lose all their vitality and moisture. garners--granaries; generally underground, and divided into separate receptacles for the different kinds of grain.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The seed is rotten under their clods - When the sprout was cut off as low as possible by the locusts, there was no farther germination. The seed rotted away.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The seed is rotten under the clods - Not only was all to be cut off for the present, but, with it, all hope for the future. The scattered seed, as it lay, each under its clod known to God, was dried up, and so decayed. The garners lay desolate, nay, were allowed to go to ruin, in hopelessness of any future harvest.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עָבְשׁ֣וּ | ʾaveshu | they have shriveled | H5685 → | |
| פְרֻד֗וֹת | ferudot | [the] seeds | H6507 → | |
| תַּ֚חַת | tachat | under | H8478 → | |
| מֶגְרְפֹ֣תֵיהֶ֔ם | megrefoteihem | shovels their | H4053 → | |
| נָשַׁ֙מּוּ֙ | nashamu | they are desolate | H8074 → | |
| אֹֽצָר֔וֹת | ʾotzarot | [the] storehouses | H214 → | |
| נֶהֶרְס֖וּ | nehersu | they have been torn down | H2040 → | |
| מַמְּגֻר֑וֹת | mamegurot | [the] granaries | H4460 → | |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הֹבִ֖ישׁ | hovish | it has dried up | H3001 → | 59 times |
| דָּגָֽן׃ | dagan | [the] grain | H1715 → | 40 times |
עָבְשׁ֣וּthey have shriveled
ʾaveshuH5685 →
פְרֻד֗וֹת[the] seeds
ferudotH6507 →
תַּ֚חַתunder
tachatH8478 →
מֶגְרְפֹ֣תֵיהֶ֔םshovels their
megrefoteihemH4053 →
נָשַׁ֙מּוּ֙they are desolate
nashamuH8074 →
אֹֽצָר֔וֹת[the] storehouses
ʾotzarotH214 →
נֶהֶרְס֖וּthey have been torn down
nehersuH2040 →
מַמְּגֻר֑וֹת[the] granaries
mamegurotH4460 →
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
הֹבִ֖ישׁit has dried up
hovishH3001 →59 times
דָּגָֽן׃[the] grain
daganH1715 →40 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 23:16Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 32:9
So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out seventeen shekels of silver.
- Zechariah 11:12
Then I told them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.
- Genesis 23:15
“Listen to me, my lord. The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”
- Exodus 30:13
Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.
- Ezekiel 45:12
The shekel will consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels will equal one mina.
- Jeremiah 32:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
On this chapter
About Joel
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 31; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Joel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.