14 Consecrate a fast , Proclaim a solemn assembly ; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of the Lord your God , And cry out to the Lord . 15 Alas for the day ! For the day of the Lord is near , And it will come as destruction from the [1]Almighty . 16 Has not food been cut off before our eyes , Gladness and joy from the house of our God ? 17 The [2] seeds shrivel under their [3]clods ; The storehouses are desolate , The barns are torn down , For the grain is dried up. 18 How the beasts groan ! The herds of cattle wander aimlessly Because there is no pasture for them; Even the flocks of sheep [4]suffer . 19 To You, O Lord , I cry ; For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field . 20 Even the beasts of the field [5] pant for You; For the water brooks are dried up And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Joel 1:14-20
Commentary on Joel 1:14-20
(Read Joel 1:14-20)
The sorrow of the people is turned into repentance and humiliation before God. With all the marks of sorrow and shame, sin must be confessed and bewailed. A day is to be appointed for this purpose; a day in which people must be kept from their common employments, that they may more closely attend God's services; and there is to be abstaining from meat and drink. Every one had added to the national guilt, all shared in the national calamity, therefore every one must join in repentance. When joy and gladness are cut off from God's house, when serious godliness decays, and love waxes cold, then it is time to cry unto the Lord. The prophet describes how grievous the calamity. See even the inferior creatures suffering for our transgression. And what better are they than beasts, who never cry to God but for corn and wine, and complain of the want of the delights of sense? Yet their crying to God in those cases, shames the stupidity of those who cry not to God in any case. Whatever may become of the nations and churches that persist in ungodliness, believers will find the comfort of acceptance with God, when the wicked shall be burned up with his indignation.