In that day the lovely young women—the young men as well—will faint from thirst.
Parallel translations
- WEB In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst.
- KJV In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
- NKJV “In that day the fair virgins And strong young men Shall faint from thirst.
- NASB “On that day the beautiful virgins And the young men will faint from thirst.
- NLT Beautiful girls and strong young men will grow faint in that day, thirsting for the Lord’s word.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Even the strongest, beautiful young women and vigorous young men, will faint with spiritual thirst. The vitality of youth offers no protection from the famine of God's word.
Overview
Those normally full of strength and life will collapse, showing that the spiritual famine spares no one. The thirst is ultimately for God himself, whom they cannot find. Only Christ satisfies this deepest thirst, offering living water so that whoever drinks of him will never thirst again.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Hos 2:3Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her like the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and turn her into a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst.
- Lam 2:21Both young and old lie together in the dust of the streets. My young men and maidens have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered them without compassion.
- Lam 1:18The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens have gone into captivity.
- Isa 41:17–20The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
- Lam 2:10The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
- Zech 9:17How lovely they will be, and how beautiful! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.
- Ps 63:1A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.
- Jer 48:18Come down from your glory; sit on parched ground, O daughter dwelling in Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come against you; he has destroyed your fortresses.
- Deut 32:25Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.
- Isa 40:30Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.
- Ps 144:12–15Then our sons will be like plants nurtured in their youth, our daughters like corner pillars carved to adorn a palace.
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Christ at the center
Amid judgment on injustice, Amos promises the raising up of David's fallen tent — read by James in Acts 15 as the ingathering of the nations into the kingdom of the risen Christ.
How Amos 8:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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