Discovery BoxJoel 1:10-12 
Context1:10 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.
1:11 Be distressed, 3 farmers;
wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley.
For the harvest of the field has perished.
1:12 The vine has dried up;
the fig tree languishes –
the pomegranate, date, and apple 4 as well.
In fact, 5 all the trees of the field have dried up.
Indeed, the joy of the people 6 has dried up!
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 Heb “embarrassed”; or “be ashamed.”
4 tn This Hebrew word וְתַפּוּחַ (vÿtappuakh) probably refers to the apple tree (so most English versions), but other suggestions that scholars have offered include the apricot, citron, or quince.
5 tn These words are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “the sons of man.”
