Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, [yea], joy and gladness from the house of our God?
Ver. 16. Is not the meat cut off before your eyes] Heb. before your eyes: and so it appeareth to be the prophet's speech, and not a form prescribed by him to the people, by adding the word (saying) to the end of the fourteenth verse, "Cry to the Lord, saying, Alas, for the day," &c. And it is as if the prophet should say; Do ye not yet see what case you are in? Are ye so stupid and so stout or sturdy, as not to stoop, though starved almost? should not vexation give understanding? are not the fiercest creatures tamed with hard hunger? Will not men in such case buy or beg food of their deadly enemies? O brawny breasts! O horny heart strings!
Yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God] All God's services were to be performed with joy; but now, for want of corn and wine (which cheereth God and man, Jdg 9:13), the daily sacrfice ceased, and all good hearts were thereby saddened. Joel 1:9. See Trapp on " Joe 1:9 "