Yoel 1:16

1:16 Our food has been cut off right before our eyes! ¹ 

There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God! ² 

Yoel 1:20

1:20 Even the wild animals ³  cry out to you; ⁴ 

for the river beds ⁵  have dried up;

fire has destroyed ⁶  the grassy pastures. ⁷ 

[1:16]  ¹ tn Heb “Has not the food been cut off right before our eyes?” This rhetorical question expects an affirmative answer; the question has been translated as an affirmation for the sake of clarity and emphasis.

[1:16]  ² tn Heb “joy and gladness from the house of our God?” Verse 16b is a continuation of the rhetorical question begun in v. 16a, but has been translated as an affirmative statement to make the meaning clear. The words “There is no longer any” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:20]  ³ tn Heb “beasts of the field.”

[1:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “long for you.” Animals of course do not have religious sensibilities as such; they do not in any literal sense long for Yahweh. Rather, the language here is figurative (metonymy of cause for effect). The animals long for food and water (so BDB 788 s.v. עָרַג), the ultimate source of which is Yahweh.

[1:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “sources of water.”

[1:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “consumed.”

[1:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “the pastures of the wilderness.”