Joel 1:8
What does Joel 1:8 mean?
A plain-English look at Joel 1:8 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Joel 1:8 means
Joel calls for lamentation as intense as that of a virgin in sackcloth mourning the husband of her youth. The simile chooses the rawest grief—sudden, intimate loss at the threshold of life together. Israel’s relationship to Jehovah is often depicted as marital; though the text does not elaborate here, the call implies that the nation’s joy has been cut short and hope deferred. Sackcloth signifies humility and repentance, not performance. This is a summons to wholehearted sorrow over sin and its consequences, not merely sadness over lost comforts. The proper response to God’s severe providence is deep, sincere mourning that seeks His face.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Make sounds of grief like a virgin dressed in haircloth for the husband of her early years.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Wail, as a virgin girdeth with sackcloth, For the husband of her youth.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
Context
Having described the land’s ravaging, Joel pivots to prescribe the inner posture that befits such devastation. The next verse will note that even the temple’s daily offerings are cut off, showing that the calamity has disrupted the central acts of worship. The flow from grief imagery to cultic impact underscores that this is not only personal or agricultural disaster; it reaches into Israel’s relationship with God, demanding a corporate, priest-led expression of lament and plea for mercy.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Jeremiah 9:17
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skilful women, that they may come:
- Isaiah 22:12
And in that day did the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
- James 5:1
Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you.
- Joel 2:12
Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
- Malachi 2:15
And did he not make one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? And wherefore one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
- Isaiah 32:11
Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones; strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
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