Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth!
Parallel translations
- KJV Lament like a virgin girded with 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 22:12In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth:
- Mal 2:15Did he not make you one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
- Jas 5:1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
- Jer 9:17–19Yahweh of Armies says, “Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skillful women, that they may come.
- Isa 32:11Tremble, you women who are at ease! Be troubled, you careless ones! Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked, and put sackcloth on your waist.
- Jer 3:4Will you not from this time cry to me, ‘My Father, you are the guide of my youth?’
- Joel 1:13–15Put 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.
- Prov 2:17who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God:
- Joel 2:12–14“Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”
- Amos 8:10I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.
- Jas 4:8–9Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
- Isa 24:7–12The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 1:8 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.