This verse is in the form of a rhetorical question, to which the expected answer is “Yes.” It functions as an emphatic statement, providing evidence that the day of Yahweh is truly near. An emphatic declarative sentence may be more suitable in most languages (see Good News Translation). However, many languages can handle a rhetorical sentence like this quite unambiguously. In others it may be necessary to make the implied answer explicit by adding “Yes, of course!”

The first two lines, which refer to the lack of food, are parallel with the last two lines, which speak of the Temple as being affected. The food in the first line refers to the crops in general, but there is special concern for the sacrificial food that is brought to the Temple. Joel speaks as much about the plight of the Temple as he does about the plight of the common people, for it is in the Temple that the daily symbols of the people’s relationship with God were maintained in the form of the sacrifices. For them to cease made it appear that the people’s relationship with God was interrupted.

Is not the food cut off from before our eyes…?: The food has not been directly attacked by the locusts, but rather the source of food, so Good News Translation has “crops.” Cut off repeats the verb used in verses 5 and 9. Hebrew poetry uses the device of repeating certain terms, often three times, as a means of maintaining continuity within a longer piece of poetry. Translators should make an effort to maintain consistency in handling such keywords, since they contribute to the cohesion of the text, although it may not work in every context. Good News Translation translates the Hebrew verb for cut off as “destroyed” here and in verse 5. Before our eyes means that the destruction of the crops occurred while the people were watching but could do nothing about it. Good News Translation expresses this well by rendering these two lines as “We look on helpless as our crops are destroyed.” A literal translation of before our eyes sounds quite natural in many languages.

Joy and gladness from the house of our God: Joy and gladness in the Temple were associated especially with the fellowship or peace offerings (Deut 12.7), a part of which was eaten by the worshipers. Such offerings and feasts were made impossible by the locusts and the drought. Bijbel in Gewone Taal brings this out clearly when it translates these two lines as “Has not the joyful singing disappeared from the temple of our God?” Because of the parallel form of this verse, the verb “cut off” is implied from the first two lines. Few languages may be able to keep the same verb in both halves of the verse.

Good News Translation restructures this verse into normal English by forming two independent sentences. However, Good News Translation loses the implied information that the food is part of the Temple worship and activities, and instead relates it to the crops described in the next verse. A better model is:

• We look on helpless as the food for sacrifices is destroyed.
There is no joy in the Temple of our God.

Quoted with permission from de Blois, Kees & Dorn, Louis. A Handbook on Joel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .