The locusts decimated crops. Without crops, the people faced starvation. Joel used vivid imagery to paint a picture of privation and barrenness: “The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up. How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering.” (NIV, Joel 1:17–18)