Joel 1:16 (DRB)

Passage

Is not your food cut off before your eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

Nearby Context

Joel 1:14 Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly, gather together the ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God: and cry ye to the Lord:

Joel 1:15 Ah, ah, ah, for the day: because the day of the Lord is at hand, and it shall come like destruction from the mighty.

Joel 1:16 Is not your food cut off before your eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

Joel 1:17 The beasts have rotted in their dung, the barns are destroyed, the storehouses are broken down: because the corn is confounded.

Joel 1:18 Why did the beasts groan, why did the herds of cattle low? because there is no pasture for them: yea, and the flocks of sheep are perished.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "food", "before", "eyes", "gladness", and "house". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "food" and "before", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 15's "Ah ah ah for the day because..." into verse 17's "The beasts have rotted in their dung...", so "food" and "before" 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 "food" and "before" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.