Joel 1:17

The grains shrivel (R.V. marg.) under their shovels (or hoes)] unable to withstand the scorching heat. This is the only rendering which the existing text will permit [32]; but the last word especially is not satisfactory. Merx (p. 100 f.) examines the passage at some length; but his restoration is not convincing.

[32] Grains, lit. things parted(cf. Syr. perdâ). A.V. is rottenfollows Ibn Ezra and Kimchi in explaining the Heb. -âbhçshfrom the Aram, -aphash, to rot;but the meaning is unsuitable (for rotting is not an effect of drought), and the Arab. -abisa, to be dried up(esp. of dirt) both agrees better phonetically and yields a preferable sense. מנרפות is derived obviously from נרף to sweep away(Judges 5:21, of a torrent; so also in Arab. and Syr.): in Arab. the corresponding word means a broom for sweeping away mud&c., also (now) a shovel, and in Palestine (PEFQSt., 1891, p. III), a hoe, and in Aram. a shovelfor removing ashes (Numbers 4:14, &c.). The Arab. gurfdoes not mean gleba terrae(Keil), but (Lane, Arab. Lex. p. 411) the water-worn bank of a stream. Clod(Heb. רִגד, Job 21:33; Job 38:38) would not be a probable generalization even of a word signifying properly masses of earth swept away by a stream.

garners lit. treasuries, store-houses, a word, in itself, of wider meaning than "garner": cf. 1 Chronicles 27:27-28 (for wine and oil); 2 Chronicles 32:27 (for money and other valuables); Nehemiah 13:12, &c.

are laid desolate … broken down being empty, and falling into disrepair through disuse.

barns not the usual word (Deuteronomy 28:8, &c.), but another, not found elsewhere, though nearly resembling the word found in Haggai 2:19.

is withered sheweth shame, fig. for fails, as Joel 1:10; Joel 1:12.