Bible Strands
Joel 1:16
Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes—joy and gladness from the house of our God?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet Joel addresses the community of Judah during a catastrophic famine that signals the nearness of the Day of the Lord. He speaks as a representative of the people who are witnessing the collapse of their agricultural and religious systems.
The words — The verb נִכְרָת (nikh.Rat) literally means "has it been cut off" and describes the sudden termination of the food supply. The noun שִׂמְחָה (sim.Chah) denotes the "joy" that once accompanied worship but is now absent.
The thread — The text links the house of God to communal joy in Psalms 43:4 and Psalms 105:3, where worship is tied to rejoicing. Deuteronomy 12:6 establishes the expected practice of bringing offerings to that house, which Joel declares impossible under current conditions.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that ritual observance cannot survive without material provision. It forces the reader to confront how divine judgment dismantles the structures that sustain communal worship.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 12:6 To that place you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and heave offerings, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, as well as the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
- Psalms 43:4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.
- Psalms 105:3 Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
- Deuteronomy 12:11 then the LORD your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD.
- Deuteronomy 16:10 And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the LORD your God has blessed you,
- Isaiah 3:7 On that day he will cry aloud: “I am not a healer. I have no food or clothing in my house. Do not make me leader of the people!”
- Isaiah 62:8 The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by His mighty arm: “Never again will I give your grain to your enemies for food, nor will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled.
- Joel 1:5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth.
- Joel 1:13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.
- Amos 4:6 “I afflicted all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.