Joel 1:7
What does Joel 1:7 mean?
A plain-English look at Joel 1:7 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Joel 1:7 means
The invader has laid waste to “my vine” and stripped “my fig-tree,” peeling off the bark and leaving stark, whitened branches. Vine and fig often represent Israel’s peace and fruitfulness; their ruin depicts the nation’s shame and vulnerability. The possessive “my” underlines that these were God’s gifts and that their destruction is an affront not only to the people but to the Lord’s intended blessing. The image of barked trees thrown aside suggests a violence that leaves no quick recovery. The verse calls the people to see loss not as random, but as God removing signs of prosperity to awaken covenant loyalty.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig-tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
KJV
King James Version · 1611He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig-tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949By him my vine is made waste and my fig-tree broken: he has taken all its fruit and sent it down to the earth; its branches are made white.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862It hath made my vine become a desolation, And my fig-tree become a chip, It hath made it thoroughly bare, and hath cast down, Made white have been its branches.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752He hath laid my vineyard waste, and hath pilled off the bark of my fig tree: he hath stripped it bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890He hath made my vine a desolation, and barked my fig-tree; he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away: its branches are made white.
Context
Following the depiction of the locusts as a fierce nation, Joel gives tangible evidence: the classic markers of Judah’s well-being are ruined. This heightens emotional stakes for the next verse, which commands a lament as deep as a young bride bereaved. The flow moves from agricultural symbols to human grief to liturgical consequences. By staging the argument this way, Joel shows how the land’s ruin leads to personal sorrow and then to the interruption of temple offerings, escalating the spiritual urgency of the situation.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Joel 1:12
The 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.
- Habakkuk 3:17
For though the fig-tree shall not flourish, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labor of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no food; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls:
- Amos 4:9
I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees hath the palmer-worm devoured: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.
- Psalms 105:33
He smote their vines also and their fig-trees, And brake the trees of their borders.
- Exodus 10:15
For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
- Isaiah 5:6
and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor hoed; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
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