God’s Word Translation
Joel 1:8
8Cry loudly like a young woman who is dressed in sackcloth, mourning for the man she was going to marry.
Joel 1:8 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
- New International Version (NIV)Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the betrothed of her youth.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the husband of her youth.
Context of Joel 1:8
6A strong nation attacked my land. It has too many soldiers to count. They have teeth like lions. They have fangs like grown lions. 7They destroyed my grapevines. They ruined my fig trees. They stripped off what they could eat, threw the rest away, and left the branches bare. Cry loudly like a young woman who is dressed in sackcloth, mourning for the man she was going to marry. 9Grain offerings and wine offerings are no longer brought to the Lord’s temple. The priests, the Lord’s servants, mourn. 10Israel’s fields are ruined, and the ground is dried up. The grain has been destroyed. The new wine has dried up. The olive oil has run out.
Read all of Joel 1Joel 1:8 word by word
אֱלִ֕י כִּבְתוּלָ֥ה חֲגֻֽרַת־שַׂ֖ק עַל־בַּ֥עַל נְעוּרֶֽיהָ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Joel 1:8
- Joel 1:13Put on your sackcloth and mourn, you priests. Cry loudly, you servants of the altar. Spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God. Grain offerings and wine offerings are withheld from your God’s temple.
- Joel 2:12“But even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart— with fasting, crying, and mourning.”
- Isaiah 22:12On that day the Almighty Lord of Armies will call for crying and for mourning, for shaving your heads and for wearing sackcloth.
- Isaiah 24:7New wine dries up, and grapevines waste away. All happy people groan.
- Isaiah 32:11Shudder, you pampered women. Tremble, you overconfident women. Take off your clothes, walk around naked, and wear sackcloth around your waists.
- Jeremiah 9:17This is what the Lord of Armies says: Consider this: Call for the women who cry at funerals. Send for those who are the most skilled.
- James 4:8Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners, and clear your minds, you doubters.
- James 5:1Pay attention to this if you’re rich. Cry and moan about the misery that is coming to you.
- Proverbs 2:17who leaves ⌞her husband,⌟ the closest friend of her youth, and forgets her marriage vows to her God.
- Jeremiah 3:4But now you are calling to me. You say, ‘Father! You have been my companion ever since I was young.
- Malachi 2:15Didn’t ⌞God⌟ make you one? Your flesh and spirit belong to him. And what does the same ⌞God⌟ look for but godly descendants? So be careful not to be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
Commentaries on Joel 1:8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 8Lament like a virgin - for the husband of her youth - Virgin is a very improper version here. The original is בתולה bethulah, which signifies a young woman or bride not a virgin, the proper Hebrew for which is עלמה almah . See the notes on Isaiah 7:14; (note), and Matthew 1:23; (note).Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 8Lament like a virgin - The prophet addresses the congregation of Israel, as one espoused to God; “Lament thou,‘ daughter of Zion,” or the like. He bids her lament, with the bitterest of sorrows, as one who, in her virgin years, was just knit into one with the husband of her youth, and then at once was, by God‘s judgment, on the very day of her espousal, ere yet she ceased to be a virgin, parted by death. The mourning which God commands is not one of…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 8-13Verses 8-13 All who labour only for the meat that perishes, will, sooner or later, be ashamed of their labour. Those that place their happiness in the delights of sense, when deprived of them, or disturbed in the enjoyment, lose their joy; whereas spiritual joy then flourishes more than ever. See what perishing, uncertain things our creature-comforts are. See how we need to live in continual dependence upon God and his providence. See what ruinous work…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 8Wail like a virgin: Judah is like a young engaged woman whose marriage never happens because her husband dies.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 88. Lament--O "my land" (Joe 1:6; Is 24:4). virgin ... for the husband--A virgin betrothed was regarded as married (De 22:23; Mt 1:19). The Hebrew for "husband" is "lord" or "possessor," the husband being considered the master of the wife in the East. of her youth--when the affections are strongest and when sorrow at bereavement is consequently keenest. Suggesting the thought of what Zion's grief ought to be for her separation from Jehovah, the betrothed…Read the comment
Topics related to Joel 1:8
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Joel 1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
Commentaries