1:10 The crops of the fields 1 have been destroyed. 2
The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished.
The fresh wine has dried up;
the olive oil languishes.
1:19 To you, O Lord, I call out for help, 3
for fire 4 has burned up 5 the grassy pastures, 6
flames have razed 7 all the trees in the fields.
1 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.
2 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”).
3 tn The phrase “for help” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
4 sn Fire here and in v. 20 is probably not to be understood in a literal sense. The locust plague, accompanied by conditions of extreme drought, has left the countryside looking as though everything has been burned up (so also in Joel 2:3).
5 tn Heb “consumed.” This entire line is restated at the end of v. 20.
6 tn Heb “the pastures of the wilderness.”
7 tn Heb “a flame has set ablaze.” This fire was one of the effects of the drought.