Joel 1:20
in Joel 1Even the beasts of the field pant for You, for the streams of water have dried up, and fire has consumed the open pastures.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Yea, the beasts of the field pant unto thee; for the water brooks are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
KJV
The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
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This verse in Joel 1
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThe beasts of the field cry also unto thee - Even the cattle, wild and tame, are represented as supplicating God to have mercy upon them, and send them provender! There is a similar affecting description of the effects of a drought in Jeremiah, Jer 14:6. The rivers of waters are dried up - There must have been a drought as well as a host of locusts; as some of these expressions seem to apply to the effects of intense heat. For המדבר hammidbar, “the wilderness,” one of my oldest MSS. reads מדבר midbar, “wilderness” simply, as in Jer 14:
This site's exposition
O Lord, to thee will I cry
on Joel 1:19-20
The prophet's own prayer closes the chapter, O Lord, to thee will I cry, the first time in the book Joel speaks for himself rather than summoning others to lament. Fire joins drought as a second disaster, the pastures of the wilderness devoured by flame as well as by locust, which some commentators read as the same locust imagery intensified and others as an actual accompanying drought and fire. The beasts of the field crying unto God in verse 20 repeats verse 18's turn to the animals, ending the chapter on the whole created order's need, which chapter 2 will begin to answer.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 19, 20.) I will cry out to you, Lord, for the fire has consumed the beautiful things of the desert, and the flame has set all the wood of the region ablaze; even the beasts of the field, like a parched land thirsting for rain, have looked up to you; for the springs of water have dried up, and the fire has devoured the beautiful things of the desert.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The beasts are here said to cry unto God, as from him the lions seek their meat ( Ps. civ. 21 ) and the young ravens, Job xxxviii. The complaints of the brute-creatures here are for want of water ( The rivers are dried up, through the excessive heat), and for want of grass, for the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
The beasts of the field cry also unto thee,....
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 Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
beasts . . . cry . . . unto thee--that is, look up to heaven with heads lifted up, as if their only expectation was from God (Job 38:41; 147:9; compare Ps 42:1).
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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 beasts of the field cry also unto Thee - o: “There is an order in these distresses. First he points out the insensate things wasted; then those afflicted, which have sense only; then those endowed with reason; so that to the order of calamity there may be consorted an order of pity, sparing first the creature, then the things sentient, then things rational. The Creator spares the creature; the Ordainer, things sentient; the Saviour, the rational.” Irrational creatures joined with the prophet in his cry. The beasts of the field cry to God, though they know it not; it is a cry to God, who compassionates all which suffers. God makes them, in act, a picture of dependence upon His Providence, “seeking to It for a removal of their sufferings, and supply of their needs.” So He saith, “the young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God” Psa 104:21, and, “He giveth to the beast his food and to the young ravens that cry” Psa 147:9, and, “Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God” Job 38:41. If the people would not take instruction from him, he “bids them learn from the beasts of the field how to behave amid these calamities, that they should cry aloud to God to remove them.”
The words behind it
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| גַּם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| בַּהֲמ֥וֹת | bahamot | [the] animals of | H929 → | 190 times |
| שָׂדֶ֖ה | sadeh | [the] field | H7704 → | 334 times |
| תַּעֲר֣וֹג | taarog | it pants | H6165 → | |
| אֵלֶ֑יךָ | ʾeleikha | to you | H413 → | 5510 times |
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יָֽבְשׁוּ֙ | yaveshu | they have dried up | H3001 → | 59 times |
| אֲפִ֣יקֵי | ʾafikei | [the] channels of | H650 → | |
| מָ֔יִם | mayim | water | H4325 → | |
| וְאֵ֕שׁ | veesh | and fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| אָכְלָ֖ה | ʾakhelah | it has consumed | H398 → | 810 times |
| נְא֥וֹת | neot | [the] pastures of | H4999 → | 12 times |
| הַמִּדְבָּֽר׃ פ | hamidbar | the wilderness | H4057 → | 270 times |
גַּם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
בַּהֲמ֥וֹת[the] animals of
bahamotH929 →190 times
שָׂדֶ֖ה[the] field
sadehH7704 →334 times
תַּעֲר֣וֹגit pants
taarogH6165 →
אֵלֶ֑יךָto you
ʾeleikhaH413 →5510 times
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
יָֽבְשׁוּ֙they have dried up
yaveshuH3001 →59 times
אֲפִ֣יקֵי[the] channels of
ʾafikeiH650 →
מָ֔יִםwater
mayimH4325 →
וְאֵ֕שׁand fire
veeshH784 →378 times
אָכְלָ֖הit has consumed
ʾakhelahH398 →810 times
נְא֥וֹת[the] pastures of
neotH4999 →12 times
הַמִּדְבָּֽר׃ פthe wilderness
hamidbarH4057 →270 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Psalms 147:9He provides food for the animals, and for the young ravens when they call.
it leads to
- Psalms 104:27–28
All creatures look to You to give them their food in due season.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 38:41
Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 6:26
Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 136:25
He gives food to every creature. His loving devotion endures forever.
- Psalms 104:27–28
Through
Job 38:41Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
it leads to
- Luke 12:24
Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storehouse or barn; yet God feeds them. How much more valuable you are than the birds!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 147:9
He provides food for the animals, and for the young ravens when they call.
- Luke 12:24
Through
1 Kings 17:7Some time later, however, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
it leads to
- Isaiah 54:10
Though the mountains may be removed and the hills may be shaken, My loving devotion will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not be broken,” says the LORD, who has…
- Isaiah 40:30–31
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.
- Isaiah 54:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Joel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Joel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.