The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn.
Parallel translations
- WEB The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off from Yahweh’s house. The priests, Yahweh’s ministers, mourn.
- BSB Grain and drink offerings have been cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD.
- NKJV The grain offering and the drink offering Have been cut off from the house of the Lord; The priests mourn, who minister to the Lord.
- NASB The grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off From the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, The ministers of the Lord.
- NLT For there is no grain or wine to offer at the Temple of the Lord. So the priests are in mourning. The ministers of the Lord are weeping.
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
With the harvest destroyed, the temple offerings have ceased and the priests mourn. The disaster has interrupted Israel's worship of God.
Overview
The locust plague has cut off the grain and wine needed for the daily meal and drink offerings, so fellowship with God through prescribed worship is disrupted. The priests, as Yahweh's ministers, mourn this severing of covenant communion. The verse shows that the deepest loss in judgment is not material but the interruption of worship, pointing ahead to Christ, whose once-for-all offering secures unbroken access to God (Hebrews 10:19-22).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Joel 2:14Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?
- Joel 2:17Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
- Hos 9:4They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of 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.
- Isa 61:6But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
- Lam 1:16For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.
- 2 Chr 13:10But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the LORD, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business:
- Lam 1:4The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.
- Joel 1:16Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
- Exod 28:1And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 1:9 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.