It may be useful in some languages to continue verses 17 and 18 as rhetorical questions, following the pattern of verse 16.

Verse 17 has a chiastic pattern. The first and fourth lines are similar, as are the second and third lines. Most languages will restructure this verse into two or three related statements (so Good News Translation).

The seed shrivels under the clods: The Hebrew words for seed and clods occur only here in the Old Testament, and their meaning is uncertain. The Septuagint translates from another form of the Hebrew text for this line, saying “The calves stamp at their stalls,” but it seems better to follow the text of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. New English Bible says “The soil is parched, the dykes are dry.” However, “soil” and “dykes” are meanings that are not widely accepted, and “are dry” is based on a suggested change in the Hebrew text that few have followed.

The first line may mean that the seeds were planted in moist soil and began to grow, but then dried up. Or it may mean that the seeds were planted in dry ground, but no moisture came at the expected season of rain (so Good News Translation). It may also mean that the sown fields had to be plowed up in anticipation of the next period of rain, and the seed thus destroyed. Any one of these alternatives is a valid possibility. De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling says “The seed rests in vain in the dried-up soil.”

The storehouses are desolate; the granaries are ruined because the grain has failed: Storehouses and granaries refer to the same thing, so Good News Translation uses one word. They were small structures, usually made of stone, for storing agricultural produce. With no harvest to store in them, they have fallen apart from disuse. Good News Translation restructures these lines to show the cause and effect in normal order: “There is no grain to be stored, and so the empty granaries are in ruins.”

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 .