Bible Strands
Joel 1:18
How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Joel addresses the people of Israel during a severe drought that has withered crops and ruined granaries. He delivers this lament immediately after detailing agricultural collapse and just before pleading with the Lord for relief.
The words — בְּהֵמָה (behemah) means livestock or cattle, and נֶאֶנְחָה (ne'enah) means it has groaned. These terms literally describe the physical distress of grazing animals caused by the total lack of pasture.
The thread — The same drought-induced animal suffering appears in Jeremiah 12:4, Hosea 4:3, and Jeremiah 14:5, where the land mourns and herds perish alongside withered vegetation. These passages consistently pair ecological ruin with the breakdown of sustenance for both people and animals.
Why it lands — The verse requires acknowledgment that environmental devastation disrupts the entire food chain, not just human harvests. It demands a clear-eyed assessment of systemic loss before any appeal for intervention.
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
How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 12:4 How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, “He cannot see what our end will be.”
- Hosea 4:3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.
- Jeremiah 14:5 Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass.
- 1 Kings 18:5 Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go throughout the land to every spring and every valley. Perhaps we will find grass to keep the horses and mules alive so that we will not have to destroy any livestock.”
- Joel 1:20 Even the beasts of the field pant for You, for the streams of water have dried up, and fire has consumed the open pastures.
- Romans 8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.