Joel 1:11 Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

◄ Joel 1:11 ►

New International Version
Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed.

New Living Translation
Despair, all you farmers! Wail, all you vine growers! Weep, because the wheat and barley— all the crops of the field—are ruined.

English Standard Version
Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil; wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

Berean Standard Bible
Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

King James Bible
Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.

New King James Version
Be ashamed, you farmers, Wail, you vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field has perished.

New American Standard Bible
Be ashamed, you farm workers, Wail, you vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field is destroyed.

NASB 1995
Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field is destroyed.

NASB 1977
Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field is destroyed.

Legacy Standard Bible
Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley, Because the harvest of the field perishes.

Amplified Bible
Be ashamed, O farmers; Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and for the barley, Because the harvest of the field has perished.

Christian Standard Bible
Be ashamed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Be ashamed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

American Standard Version
Be confounded, O ye husbandmen, wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field is perished.

Contemporary English Version
Mourn for our farms and our vineyards! There's no wheat or barley growing in our fields.

English Revised Version
Be ashamed, O ye husbandmen, howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field is perished.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Be sad, you farmers! Cry loudly, you grape growers! Mourn for the wheat and the barley. The harvest is destroyed in the field.

Good News Translation
Grieve, you farmers; cry, you that take care of the vineyards, because the wheat, the barley, yes all the crops are destroyed.

International Standard Version
Be dismayed, you farmers! Cry aloud, you vintners, for the wheat and barley, because the harvest in your fields has been lost.

Majority Standard Bible
Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

NET Bible
Be distressed, farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished.

New Heart English Bible
Be confounded, you farmers. Wail, you vineyard keepers; for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field has perished.

Webster's Bible Translation
Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vine-dressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field hath perished.

World English Bible
Be confounded, you farmers! Wail, you vineyard keepers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field has perished.

Literal Translations

Literal Standard Version
Be ashamed, you farmers, "" Howl, vinedressers, for wheat and for barley, "" For the harvest of the field has perished.

Young's Literal Translation
Be ashamed, ye husbandmen, Howl, vine-dressers, for wheat and for barley, For perished hath the harvest of the field.

Smith's Literal Translation
The husbandmen were ashamed; wail, ye vine-dressers, for the wheat and for the barley, for the harvest of the field perished.

Catholic Translations

Douay-Rheims Bible
The husbandmen are ashamed, the vinedressers have howled for the wheat, and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished.

Catholic Public Domain Version
The farmers have been confounded, the vineyard workers have wailed over the crop and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

New American Bible
Be appalled, you farmers! wail, you vinedressers, Over the wheat and the barley, because the harvest in the field is ruined.

New Revised Standard Version
Be dismayed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley; for the crops of the field are ruined.

Translations from Aramaic

Lamsa Bible
Be ashamed, O you husbandmen; howl, O you vinedressers, howl for the wheat and for the barley because the harvest of the fields is perished.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Be ashamed, farmers, and wail, vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley, for the harvest of the field is gone

OT Translations

JPS Tanakh 1917
Be ashamed, O ye husbandmen, Wail, O ye vinedressers, For the wheat and for the barley; Because the harvest of the field is perished.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
the husbandmen are consumed: mourn your property on account of the wheat and barley; for the harvest has perished from off the field.

Additional Translations ...

Audio Bible

Context

A Call to Mourning
…10The field is ruined; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the oil fails. 11Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. 12The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, palm, and apple—all the trees of the orchard—are withered. Surely the joy of mankind has dried up.…

Berean Standard Bible · Download

Cross References

Isaiah 17:10-11
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge. Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots and set out cuttings from exotic vines— / though on the day you plant you make them grow, and on that morning you help your seed sprout—yet the harvest will vanish on the day of disease and incurable pain.

Jeremiah 12:13
They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves to no avail. Bear the shame of your harvest because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”

Amos 5:16-17
Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail. / There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD.

Haggai 1:10-11
Therefore, on account of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth has withheld its crops. / I have summoned a drought on the fields and on the mountains, on the grain, new wine, and oil, and on whatever the ground yields, on man and beast, and on all the labor of your hands.”

Zechariah 8:10-12
For before those days neither man nor beast received wages, nor was there safety from the enemy for anyone who came or went, for I had turned every man against his neighbor. / But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the LORD of Hosts. / “For the seed will be prosperous, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will yield its produce, and the skies will give their dew. To the remnant of this people I will give all these things as an inheritance.

Deuteronomy 28:38-40
You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it. / You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. / You will have olive trees throughout your territory but will never anoint yourself with oil, because the olives will drop off.

Isaiah 24:7-12
The new wine dries up, the vine withers. All the merrymakers now groan. / The joyful tambourines have ceased; the noise of revelers has stopped; the joyful harp is silent. / They no longer sing and drink wine; strong drink is bitter to those who consume it. ...

Ezekiel 27:30-31
They will raise their voices for you and cry out bitterly. They will throw dust on their heads and roll in ashes. / They will shave their heads for you and wrap themselves in sackcloth. They will weep over you with anguish of soul and bitter mourning.

Hosea 9:2
The threshing floor and winepress will not feed them, and the new wine will fail them.

Malachi 3:11
I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your land, and the vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit,” says the LORD of Hosts.

Matthew 13:7
Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings.

Mark 4:7
Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop.

Luke 8:7
Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the seedlings.

Romans 8:20-22
For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope / that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. / We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.

James 5:1-5
Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you. / Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. / Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire. You have hoarded treasure in the last days. ...

Treasury of Scripture

Be you ashamed, O you farmers; howl, O you vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.

ashamed.

Jeremiah 14:3,4
And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads…

Romans 5:5
And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

because.

Isaiah 17:11
In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

Jeremiah 9:12
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?

Jump to Previous

Ashamed Barley Confounded Cries Despair Destroyed Destruction Farmers Field Fields Grief Grieve Harvest Howl Husbandmen Keepers Perished Produce Shamed Soil Tillers Vine Vinedressers Vine-Dressers Vine-Gardens Vineyard Wail Wheat Workers

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Joel 1

1. Joel, declaring various judgments of God, exhorts to observe them,
8. and to mourn.
14. He prescribes a solemn fast to deprecate those judgments.

Berean Study Bible

Be ashamed, O farmers
The phrase "Be ashamed" is a call to deep regret and repentance. In the Hebrew, the word used here is "בּוֹשׁ" (bosh), which conveys a sense of humiliation and disgrace. This is not merely a superficial embarrassment but a profound recognition of failure and sin. The farmers, or "עִכָּרִים" (ikkarim), are directly addressed, highlighting their role in the agricultural society of ancient Israel. They are the stewards of the land, and their shame is tied to the failure of the crops, which is seen as a divine judgment. This call to shame is a call to return to God, acknowledging that the land's fruitfulness is ultimately dependent on His blessing.

wail, O vinedressers
The word "wail" is translated from the Hebrew "הֵילִילוּ" (heililu), which is an expression of intense mourning and lamentation. This is not a quiet or private grief but a loud, public outcry. The "vinedressers," or "כּוֹרְמִים" (koremim), are those who tend the vineyards, a critical part of the agrarian economy. Vineyards were a symbol of prosperity and joy in Israel, often associated with celebration and abundance. The call for vinedressers to wail signifies the loss of these blessings and the deep sorrow that accompanies such a loss. It is a call to recognize the spiritual implications of the physical devastation.

over the wheat and the barley
"Wheat" and "barley" were staple crops in ancient Israel, essential for daily sustenance. The Hebrew words "חִטָּה" (chittah) for wheat and "שְׂעוֹרָה" (se'orah) for barley indicate the basic elements of the diet and economy. The loss of these crops would have been catastrophic, leading to famine and economic collapse. This devastation is a direct result of the locust plague described earlier in the chapter, which serves as a metaphor for divine judgment. The mention of these specific crops underscores the severity of the situation and the need for the people to turn back to God in repentance.

because the harvest of the field has perished
The "harvest" is the culmination of the farmers' and vinedressers' labor, the time of reaping what has been sown. The Hebrew word "קָצִיר" (qatsir) signifies not just the physical gathering of crops but also the anticipated joy and provision that comes with it. The fact that it "has perished" (from the Hebrew "אָבַד" - avad) indicates total destruction and loss. This is not a natural disaster but a divine intervention meant to awaken the people to their spiritual condition. The perishing of the harvest is a call to recognize the futility of relying solely on human effort and to return to dependence on God, who is the true source of all provision and blessing.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 11, 12. - Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen. The verb from בּושׁ (formed from יַבֵשׁ), to be or feel ashamed, or turn pale with shame; חָפֵר is "to blush or turn red with shame." It is written defectively, to distinguish it from הובִישׁ, which occurs in the tenth verse and again in the twelfth, and which is the Hiph. of יָבֵשׁ, to be parched or dried up. Their hope was disappointed through the destruction of their wheat and barley - their most serviceable and valuable cereals; while disappointment of hope causes shame; hence we read of a "hope that maketh not ashamed, because it never disappoints as empty hopes do. Howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the harley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth. There is a transposition here which is a species of the figure ehiasmus, so called from the form of the Greek letter chi (χ). The husbandmen are put to shame on account of the destruction of the wheat and barley - the entire failure of their field crops and ruin of their harvest; while the vinedressers have reason to howl because of the loss of their vines and the languishing of their fig trees. The prophet, after particularizing the vine and fig tree, proceeds with the enumeration of other important fruit trees that had perished by the teeth of the locusts. The pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered. The pomegranate, though abundant in that region, had shared the fate of the fig and vine; even the palm tree, the date palm, though a vigorous tree and little subject to injury, having no juice in the leaves or fresh greenness in the rind, ceased to flourish; and the apple tree - the medicinal apple, as Virgil terms it - suffered in like manner. Nor was it the fruit trees only that were injured; the hardier forest or timber trees - all the trees of the field - shared in the calamity. Thus Jerome represents the prophet as asking, "Why should I speak of the corn, wine, oil, and barley? when even the fruits of the trees have been dried up, the fig trees have languished, with the pomegranate and palm and apple; and all trees, whether fruit-bearing or not, are consumed by the devastating locusts." Because joy is withered away from the sons of men. This clause is connected by" because" with "howl," the intermediate words being treated parenthetically or passed over. Joy here is either

(1) literal; while "withered" is figurative, and signifies "has ceased or been taken away;" or

(2) "joy" is figurative, denoting the means of joy, and" withered" may then be understood literally. The rain, from, is a pregnant construction, that is, "is withered from" being equivalent to "is withered and taken away from" the sons of men. Thus Kimchi: "Because joy is withered - is withered, as if he said, 'it has ceased because the products and the fruits are the joy of the sons of men,' and so Jonathan explains it, 'because joy has ceased;' or the meaning of 'withered' may be by way of figure."

Parallel Commentaries ...

Hebrew

Be dismayed,
הֹבִ֣ישׁוּ (hō·ḇî·šū)
Verb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine plural
Strong's 954: To pale, to be ashamed, to be disappointed, delayed

O farmers,
אִכָּרִ֗ים (’ik·kā·rîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 406: A plowman, husbandman

wail,
הֵילִ֙ילוּ֙ (hê·lî·lū)
Verb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine plural
Strong's 3213: To howl, make a howling

O vinedressers,
כֹּֽרְמִ֔ים (kō·rə·mîm)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 3755: To tend vineyards, dress vines

over
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the wheat
חִטָּ֖ה (ḥiṭ·ṭāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2406: Wheat

and
וְעַל־ (wə·‘al-)
Conjunctive waw | Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

barley,
שְׂעֹרָ֑ה (śə·‘ō·rāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8184: Barley

because
כִּ֥י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

the harvest
קְצִ֥יר (qə·ṣîr)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 7105: Severed, harvest, the crop, the time, the reaper, a limb

of the field
שָׂדֶֽה׃ (śā·ḏeh)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7704: Field, land

has perished.
אָבַ֖ד (’ā·ḇaḏ)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6: To wander away, lose oneself, to perish

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OT Prophets: Joel 1:11 Be confounded you farmers! (Jl Joe.)