Joel 1:12
What does Joel 1:12 mean?
A plain-English look at Joel 1:12 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Joel 1:12 means
The withering spreads across vine and fig to pomegranate, palm, and apple; indeed, all the trees of the field are dried up. Joel concludes that “joy is withered away from the sons of men.” The loss is not only agricultural but existential: when God’s good gifts are withdrawn, human gladness fades. The verse exposes how intertwined joy and God’s provision are. It is not wrong to delight in His bounty, but when He withholds it, a deeper joy must be sought in Him through repentance and prayer. The comprehensive withering presses the community toward the only unfailing source of life and gladness—Jehovah Himself.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000The vine is withered, and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field are withered: for joy is withered away from the sons of men.
KJV
King James Version · 1611The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901The vine is withered, and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field are withered: for joy is withered away from the sons of men.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949The vine has become dry and the fig-tree is feeble; the pomegranate and the palm-tree and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field, are dry: because joy has gone from the sons of men.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862The vine hath been dried up, And the fig-tree doth languish, Pomegranate, also palm, and apple-tree, All trees of the field have withered, For dried up hath been joy from the sons of men.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752The vineyard is confounded, and the fig tree hath languished: the pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the apple tree, and all the trees of the field are withered: because joy is withdrawn from the children of men.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890The vine is dried up, and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm also and the apple-tree; all the trees of the field are withered, yea, joy is withered away from the children of men.
Context
This verse caps the catalog of devastation by universalizing it—every tree and human joy have shriveled. The emotional and ecological nadir sets the stage for intensified priestly mourning in the next verse, where leaders are commanded to gird with sackcloth and even spend the night in lament. From there, Joel will call for a sanctified fast and a solemn assembly. The movement is from devastation to directed spiritual practice, showing that when joy withers, God invites His people into humble, united seeking of His face.
v.11Be confounded, O ye husbandmen, wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field is perished.
v.12This passage
v.13Gird yourselveswith sackcloth, and lament, ye priests; wail, ye ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meal-offering and the drink-offering are withholden from the house of your God.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Song of Solomon 4:13
Thy shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits; Henna with spikenard plants,
- Joel 1:10
The field is laid waste, the land mourneth; for the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
- Song of Solomon 7:7
This thy stature is like to a palm-tree, And thy breasts to its clusters.
- Haggai 2:19
Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, the vine, and the fig-tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive-tree have not brought forth; from this day will I bless you.
- Joel 1:16
Is not the food cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
- Psalms 4:7
Thou hast put gladness in my heart, More thanthey havewhen their grain and their new wine are increased.
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