Joel 1 · Verse 8

Joel 1:8

Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
Joel 1:8, King James Version

Joel 1:8 in other translations

BSBWail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth.
WEBMourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth!
ASVLament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
YLTWail, as a virgin girdeth with sackcloth, For the husband of her youth.
DARBYWail like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
BBEMake sounds of grief like a virgin dressed in haircloth for the husband of her early years.
WebsterLament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

What does Joel 1:8 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
8. 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 husband of her early days (Jr 2:2; Eze 16:8; Ho 2:7; compare Pr 2:17; Jr 3:4).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 8 Lament 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 Isa 7:14 (note), and Mat 1:23 (note).

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Joel 1:8-13
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 sin makes. As far as poverty occasions the decay of piety, and starves the cause of religion among a people, it is a very sore judgment. But how blessed are the awakening judgments of God, in rousing his people and calling home the heart to Christ, and his salvation!

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Joel 1:8 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אֱלִ֕י'e.LiwailH421
כִּבְתוּלָ֥הkiv.tu.Lahlike a virginH1330
חֲגֻֽרַת\־cha.gu.rat-girded ofH2296
שַׂ֖קsaksackclothH8242
עַל\־'al-onH5921
בַּ֥עַלBa.'al[the] husband ofH1167
נְעוּרֶֽיהָ\׃ne.'u.Rei.hayouth<s> herH5271

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Joel 1:8

  • Isaiah 22:12

    And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:

  • Malachi 2:15

    And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

  • James 5:1

    Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

  • Amos 8:10

    And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

  • Isaiah 24:7-12

    The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in. …

  • Joel 1:13-15

    Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God. Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord, Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

  • James 4:8-9

    Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

  • Jeremiah 9:17-19

    Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come: And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.

  • Proverbs 2:17

    Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

  • 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.

  • Joel 2:12-14

    Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?

  • Jeremiah 3:4

    Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lament.
13-15; 2:12-14; Isa 22:12; 24:7-12; 32:11; Jer 9:17-19; Jas 4:8,9
Jas 5:1
the husband.
Pr 2:17; Jer 3:4; Mal 2:15

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Joel 1:7

    He 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.

  • Joel 1:8

    Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

  • Joel 1:9

    The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord’s ministers, mourn.

Read all of Joel 1

Joel 1:8 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Llora tú como moza vestida de saco por el marido de su juventud.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Gémis comme une vierge ceinte du sac, sur le mari de sa jeunesse!
German
Elberfelder 1871		Wehklage wie eine Jungfrau, die mit Sacktuch umgürtet ist wegen des Gatten ihrer Jugend!
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Plange quasi virgo accincta sacco super virum pubertatis suæ.