The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
Parallel translations
- WEB The vine has dried up, and the fig tree withered; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all of the trees of the field are withered; for joy has withered away from the sons of men.
- BSB The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, palm, and apple—all the trees of the orchard—are withered. Surely the joy of mankind has dried up.
- NKJV The vine has dried up, And the fig tree has withered; The pomegranate tree, The palm tree also, And the apple tree— All the trees of the field are withered; Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men.
- NASB The vine has dried up And the fig tree has withered; The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree, All the trees of the field have dried up. Indeed, joy has dried up From the sons of mankind.
- NLT The grapevines have dried up, and the fig trees have withered. The pomegranate trees, palm trees, and apple trees— all the fruit trees—have dried up. And the people’s joy has dried up with them.
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
Every kind of tree has withered, and with them human joy itself has dried up. The loss of provision drains away the people's gladness.
Overview
Joel lists the vine, fig, pomegranate, palm, and apple, declaring that all the trees and their fruit have failed. He concludes that joy itself has withered from humanity, linking material loss to spiritual desolation. The verse reveals how judgment can empty life of gladness, and points by contrast to the enduring joy God restores to His people, ultimately in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Isa 24:11There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
- Isa 16:10And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.
- Joel 1:10The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
- Hos 9:1–2Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor.
- Hab 3:17–18Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
- Joel 1:16Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
- Song 2:3As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
- Ps 4:7Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
- Song 7:7–9This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.
- Jer 48:3A voice of crying shall be from Horonaim, spoiling and great destruction.
- Jer 48:33And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.
- Hag 2:19Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.
- Ps 92:12The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
- Num 13:23And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.
- Isa 9:3Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
- Song 4:13Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,
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Christ at the center
The promised outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh and the call to 'everyone who calls on the name of the LORD' are fulfilled at Pentecost in the name of Jesus.
How Joel 1:12 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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