Joel 1:17
What does Joel 1:17 mean?
A plain-English look at Joel 1:17 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Joel 1:17 means
Seed shrivels beneath clods of dry earth; storehouses stand desolate; barns crumble because there is no grain to hold. This picture moves from field to infrastructure: even what was built to manage abundance decays in famine. Human foresight—sowing, storing, constructing—has met its match in God’s withering providence. The verse underscores the futility of relying on systems without the Lord’s blessing. It invites the people to confess that the cycle of sowing and reaping is not automatic; life depends on Jehovah’s favor. Such honesty becomes the soil in which true repentance and renewed petition can grow.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000The seeds rot under their clods; the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain is withered.
KJV
King James Version · 1611The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901The seeds rot under their clods; the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain is withered.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949The grains have become small and dry under the spade; the store-houses are made waste, the grain-stores are broken down; for the grain is dry and dead.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Rotted have scattered things under their clods, Desolated have been storehouses, Broken down have been granaries, For withered hath the corn.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752The beasts have rotted in their dung, the barns are destroyed, the storehouses are broken down: because the corn is confounded.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890The seeds are rotten under their clods, the granaries are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
Context
Joel continues enumerating visible signs of judgment after highlighting the loss of joy from God’s house. This verse’s focus on seed and storage shows the breakdown of future hope and current security simultaneously. The next verse will extend the lament to animals, whose groans amplify the crisis. From there, Joel will transition from description to direct address to Jehovah, modeling the prayer that the whole assembly must offer, thus turning observation into supplication.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Genesis 23:16
And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the audience of the children of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.
- Isaiah 17:10
For thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength; therefore thou plantest pleasant plants, and settest it with strange slips.
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