Joel 1:13-20 | The Way of Scripture

Joel 1:13-20

How does the call to assemble join human and animal suffering?

Berean Standard Bible

13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. 14 Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. 15 Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty. 16 Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes— joy and gladness from the house of our God? 17 The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods; the storehouses are in ruins; the granaries are broken down, for the grain has withered away. 18 How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering. 19 To You, O LORD, I call, for fire has consumed the open pastures and flames have scorched all the trees of the field. 20 Even the beasts of the field pant for You, for the streams of water have dried up, and fire has consumed the open pastures.

What is the context?

Priests are called to lament, set apart a fast, gather the people, and cry to the Lord. The interruption of offerings becomes a reason for communal prayer.

The Day of the Lord is announced as near. Empty granaries, ruined seeds, and lost pasture give that warning a concrete setting rather than an abstract calendar puzzle.

The speaker calls to the Lord while cattle groan and wild animals pant because water and pasture have failed. The disaster reaches creatures unable to explain or repair it.

The prayer offers the distress to God. The poem does not give the community permission to blame hungry people or ignore the needs of animals while gathering to worship.

How is this passage commonly understood?

Wesley reads the beasts’ cries as part of creation’s distress and the fast as confession and petition. His explanation that discouraged owners neglected repairs is an inference; the text itself reports ruined storehouses and the failed crop.

What is our position?

We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.

Where can I study this further?

No deeper study linked yet.

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