Joel 1:11 (LSB)

Passage

Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley, Because the harvest of the field perishes.

Nearby Context

Joel 1:9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off From the house of Yahweh. The priests mourn, The ministers of Yahweh.

Joel 1:10 The field is destroyed; The land mourns, For the grain is destroyed, The new wine dries up, Fresh oil fails.

Joel 1:11 Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley, Because the harvest of the field perishes.

Joel 1:12 The vine dries up, And the fig tree fails; The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree, All the trees of the field dry up. Indeed, rejoicing dries up From the sons of men.

Joel 1:13 Gird yourselves with sackcloth And lament, O priests; Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God; For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 10's "The field is destroyed The land mourns..." into verse 12's "The vine dries up And the fig...", so "ashamed" and "farmers" 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 "ashamed" and "farmers" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.