Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you wine-drinkers! All the grapes are ruined, and all your sweet wine is gone.
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.
- KJV 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.
- 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.
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 5:1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
- Luke 21:34–36“So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.
- Isa 32:10–12For days beyond a year you will be troubled, you careless women; for the vintage shall fail. The harvest won’t come.
- Jer 4:8For this clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn’t turned back from us.
- Isa 24:7–11The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh.
- Joel 1:11Be confounded, you farmers! Wail, you vineyard keepers; for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field has perished.
- Ezek 30:2Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Wail, Alas for the day!
- Luke 16:19“Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.
- Joel 1:13Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God’s house.
- Joel 3:3and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
- Amos 6:3–7Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
- Rom 13:11–14Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed.
- Luke 16:23–25In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.