The Meaning of Joel 1:9 Explained

Joel 1:9

KJV: The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD'S ministers, mourn.

YLT: Cut off hath been present and libation from the house of Jehovah, Mourned have the priests, ministrants of Jehovah.

Darby: The oblation and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah; the priests, Jehovah's ministers, mourn.

ASV: The meal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah; the priests, Jehovah's ministers, mourn.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

The meat offering  and the drink offering  is cut off  from the house  of the LORD;  the priests,  the LORD'S  ministers,  mourn. 

What does Joel 1:9 Mean?

Context Summary

Joel 1:1-20 - A Summons To Penitence
We know nothing of Joel beyond this book. He was content to be God's mouthpiece and remain unknown. His message was one of unparalleled woe. The memory of God's loving kindness ought to have kept His people faithful and loyal, but since grace and love had failed to affect them awful judgments were announced. A small insect, the locust, was to prostrate man's boasted power. The four kinds of locusts here described and which doubtless devastated the country, were also symbols of the four world-empires, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and Rome, which were to lay waste the Holy Land. Such judgments call for acts of repentance, such as fasting, humiliation, and intercession. There are days in national experience when it becomes us to gird ourselves and lament. The ministers and elders of the Church should lead the way. Where there has been infidelity to the great Lover of souls, when the visible Church or the individual member has turned from Christ to the wanton world, then joy withers away, Joel 1:12, spiritual worship ceases, Joel 1:9, and there can be neither peace nor safety until there has been repentance and return. [source]

Chapter Summary: Joel 1

1  Joel, declaring various judgments of God, exhorts to observe them,
8  and to mourn
14  He prescribes a solemn fast to deprecate those judgments

What do the individual words in Joel 1:9 mean?

Have been cut off the grain offering and the drink offering from the house of Yahweh mourn The priests who minister to Yahweh
הָכְרַ֥ת מִנְחָ֛ה וָנֶ֖סֶךְ מִבֵּ֣ית יְהוָ֑ה אָֽבְלוּ֙ הַכֹּ֣הֲנִ֔ים מְשָׁרְתֵ֖י יְהוָֽה

הָכְרַ֥ת  Have  been  cut  off 
Parse: Verb, Hofal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: כָּרַת  
Sense: to cut, cut off, cut down, cut off a body part, cut out, eliminate, kill, cut a covenant.
מִנְחָ֛ה  the  grain  offering 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: מִנְחָה  
Sense: gift, tribute, offering, present, oblation, sacrifice, meat offering.
וָנֶ֖סֶךְ  and  the  drink  offering 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine singular
Root: נֶסֶךְ 
Sense: drink offering, libation, molten image, something poured out.
מִבֵּ֣ית  from  the  house 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: בַּיִת 
Sense: house.
יְהוָ֑ה  of  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
אָֽבְלוּ֙  mourn 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: אָבַל 
Sense: to mourn, lament.
הַכֹּ֣הֲנִ֔ים  The  priests 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine plural
Root: כֹּהֵן  
Sense: priest, principal officer or chief ruler.
מְשָׁרְתֵ֖י  who  minister  to 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Participle, masculine plural construct
Root: שָׁרַת  
Sense: (Piel) to minister, serve, minister to.
יְהוָֽה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.