New English Translation
Joel 1:8
8Wail like a young virgin clothed in sackcloth, lamenting the death of her husband-to-be.
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
6For a nation has invaded our land. There are so many of them they are too numerous to count. Their teeth are like those of a lion; they tear apart their prey like a lioness. 7They have destroyed our vines; they have turned our fig trees into mere splinters. They have completely stripped off the bark and thrown them aside; the twigs are stripped bare. Wail like a young virgin clothed in sackcloth, lamenting the death of her husband-to-be. 9No one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of the Lord anymore. So the priests, those who serve the Lord, are in mourning. 10The crops of the fields have been destroyed. The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished. The fresh wine has dried up; the olive oil languishes.
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 1:13Get dressed and lament, you priests! Wail, you who minister at the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God, because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of your God anymore.
- Joel 2:12“Yet even now,” the Lord says, “return to me with all your heart – with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, not just your garments!”
- Isaiah 22:12At that time the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning, for shaved heads and sackcloth.
- Isaiah 24:7The new wine dries up, the vines shrivel up, all those who like to celebrate groan.
- Isaiah 32:11Tremble, you complacent ones! Shake with fear, you carefree ones! Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves – put sackcloth on your waist!
- Jeremiah 9:17The Lord who rules over all told me to say to this people, “Take note of what I say. Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!”
- James 4:8Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded.
- James 5:1Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming on you.
- Proverbs 2:17who leaves the husband from her younger days, and forgets her marriage covenant made before God.
- Jeremiah 3:4Even now you say to me, ‘You are my father! You have been my faithful companion ever since I was young.
- Malachi 2:15No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his 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
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