Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
Parallel translations
- WEB Isn’t the food cut off before our eyes; joy and gladness from the house of our God?
- BSB Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes—joy and gladness from the house of our God?
- NKJV Is not the food cut off before our eyes, Joy and gladness from the house of our God?
- NASB Has food not been cut off before our eyes, and Joy and rejoicing from the house of our God?
- NLT Our food disappears before our very eyes. No joyful celebrations are held in the house of our God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Joel observes that food and the joy of worship have been cut off before their very eyes. The people can plainly see God's hand stripping away both sustenance and gladness.
Overview
The prophet draws attention to the visible evidence of judgment: provisions are gone and the joyful gladness once found in God's house has ceased. The pairing of physical food and the joy of worship shows how deeply the disaster reaches. It reminds God's people that true gladness flows from communion with Him, a joy fully restored in the fellowship Christ secures.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Deut 12:6–7And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:
- Ps 105:3Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
- Ps 43:4Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
- Isa 3:7In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.
- Deut 12:11–12Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD:
- Joel 1:5–9Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
- Amos 4:6–7And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
- Joel 1:13Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
- Deut 16:10–15And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:
- Isa 62:8–9The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured:
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Christ at the center
The promised outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh and the call to 'everyone who calls on the name of the LORD' are fulfilled at Pentecost in the name of Jesus.
How Joel 1:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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