Joel 1:11 (DRB)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

Joel 1:9 Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of the Lord: the priests, the Lord's ministers, have mourned:

Joel 1:10 The country is destroyed, the ground hath mourned: for the corn is wasted, the wine is confounded, the oil hath languished.

Joel 1:11 The husbandmen are ashamed, the vinedressers have howled for the wheat, and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished.

Joel 1:12 The vineyard is confounded, and the fig tree hath languished: the pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the apple tree, and all the trees of the field are withered: because joy is withdrawn from the children of men.

Joel 1:13 Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests, howl, ye ministers of the altars: go in, lie in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: because sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "husbandmen", "ashamed", "vinedressers", "howled", "wheat", "barley", "harvest", and "field". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "husbandmen" and "ashamed", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 10's "The country is destroyed the ground hath..." into verse 12's "The vineyard is confounded and the fig...", so "husbandmen" and "ashamed" belong inside that flow. In Joel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "husbandmen" and "ashamed" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.