Joel 1:8
6 For a nation has invaded My land, powerful and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its fangs are the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste My grapevine and splintered My fig tree. It has stripped off the bark and thrown it away; the branches have turned white.
Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth.
9 Grain and drink offerings have been cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD.
10 The field is ruined; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the oil fails.
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth.
- KJV
- Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
- WEB
- Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth!
- ASV
- Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
- DARBY
- Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
- BLB
- Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth over the husband of her youth.
- ÅB
- Klag som en jomfru som bærer sørgedrakt for sin ungdoms brudgom!
- OTB
- Sørg som en ung kvinne i sekkestrie
som sørger over sin ungdoms ektemann. - B1930
- Klag som en jomfru som bærer sørgedrakt for sin ungdoms brudgom!
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Isaiah 22:12
On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.
Read in contextMalachi 2:15
Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
Read in contextJames 5:1
Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.
Read in contextAmos 8:10
I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, and its outcome like a bitter day.
Read in contextIsaiah 24:7–12
The new wine dries up, the vine withers. All the merrymakers now groan.
Read in contextJoel 1:13–15
Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.
Read in contextJames 4:8–9
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Read in contextJeremiah 9:17–19
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Take note, and summon the wailing women; send for the most skillful among them.
Read in context