Joel 1:5
What does Joel 1:5 mean?
A plain-English look at Joel 1:5 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Joel 1:5 means
Joel addresses drunkards and all who drink wine, urging them to wake from stupor and weep because the supply of sweet wine is cut off. Pleasure has been interrupted at the source; vines stripped mean cups empty. The prophet starts with those most dulled to spiritual realities, using loss of their favorite indulgence as a wake-up call. When God removes comforts, He exposes dependence on gifts rather than the Giver. The summons is not merely moral reform about drinking, but a call to recognize that the land’s joy has ceased and to join the nation in sober lament before Jehovah.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Come out of your sleep, you who are overcome with wine, and give yourselves to weeping; give cries of sorrow, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it has been cut off from your mouths.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Awake, ye drunkards, and weep, And howl all drinking wine, because of the juice, For it hath been cut off from your mouth.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn all ye that take delight in drinking sweet wine: for it is cut off from your mouth.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine: for it is cut off from your mouth.
Context
After describing the locusts’ total consumption, Joel personalizes the disaster by singling out a group whose lifestyle epitomizes carefree indulgence. This functions as an entry point to broader societal mourning. In the next verse, Joel will liken the locust horde to a countless nation with lion-like teeth, deepening the sense of invasion and power. The flow moves from loss of wine to the character of the destroyer and then to the devastation of vine and fig, the emblematic plants of Judah’s prosperity, widening the call to heartfelt grief.
v.4That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.
v.5This passage
v.6For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Isaiah 24:7
The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh.
- Luke 16:23
And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
- Joel 1:13
Gird 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.
- Joel 3:3
and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
- Isaiah 32:10
For days beyond a year shall ye be troubled, ye careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the ingathering shall not come.
- Luke 16:19
Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, faring sumptuously every day:
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