Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
Parallel translations
- WEB Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
- BSB Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth.
- NKJV Awake, you drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you drinkers of wine, Because of the new wine, For it has been cut off from your mouth.
- NASB Awake, you heavy drinkers, and weep; And wail, all you wine drinkers, Because of the sweet wine, For it has been eliminated from your mouth.
- NLT Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you wine-drinkers! All the grapes are ruined, and all your sweet wine is gone.
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
Joel rouses the drunkards to weep because the wine supply has been cut off. Even those absorbed in pleasure must feel the weight of God's judgment.
Overview
The prophet first addresses those least likely to notice spiritual realities, the drinkers, because the locusts have destroyed the vineyards and the new wine is gone. Their loss of indulgence becomes an unexpected summons to grief. The verse exposes how judgment strips away false comforts, a sobering reminder that earthly pleasures cannot stand when God acts and that true gladness is found only in Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Jas 5:1Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
- Luke 21:34–36And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
- Isa 32:10–12Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.
- Jer 4:8For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
- Isa 24:7–11The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.
- Joel 1:11Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
- Ezek 30:2Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day!
- Luke 16:19There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
- Joel 1:13Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
- Joel 3:3And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
- Amos 6:3–7Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
- Rom 13:11–14And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
- Luke 16:23–25And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 1:5 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.