Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
Parallel translations
- WEB Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth!
- BSB Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth.
- NKJV Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the husband of her youth.
- NASB ¶Wail like a virgin clothed with sackcloth For the groom of her youth.
- NLT Weep like a bride dressed in black, mourning the death of her husband.
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 calls the people to mourn deeply, like a young bride grieving her dead betrothed. The depth of sorrow should match the severity of the loss.
Overview
The prophet summons the community to anguished lament, comparing it to a virgin's grief over the husband of her youth, one of the most piercing sorrows imaginable. Such mourning is the fitting response to God's judgment and a step toward repentance. Genuine grief over sin and its consequences, rather than mere regret over loss, is what God seeks in His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Isa 22:12And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
- Mal 2:15And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
- Jas 5:1Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
- Jer 9:17–19Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
- Isa 32:11Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
- Jer 3:4Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
- Joel 1:13–15Gird 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.
- Prov 2:17Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
- Joel 2:12–14Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
- Amos 8:10And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
- Jas 4:8–9Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
- Isa 24:7–12The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.
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 1:8 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.