Joel 1:13
in Joel 1Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Gird yourselves with 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.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Joel 1
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Gird yourselves - that is, with haircloth, as is elsewhere expressed Isa 22:12; Jer 4:8; Jer 6:26. The outward affliction is an expression of the inward grief, and itself excites to further grief. This their garment of affliction and penitence, they were not to put off day and night. Their wonted duty was to “offer up sacrifice for their own sins and the sins of the people” Heb 7:27, and to entreat God for them.
This site's exposition
Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests
on Joel 1:13-14
The priests who mourned in verse 9 are now given their task, gird yourselves, and lament, and lie all night in sackcloth, the altar's own ministers made the chapter's chief mourners since the offering they exist to bring has failed. Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly gathers every rank, elders and all the inhabitants of the land, into the house of the Lord for a single corporate act. The cry unto the Lord that closes verse 14 is the first prayer the book has offered after a chapter of pure description of ruin.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
A commentator
Gregory of NazianzusIN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT TO PONTUS, ORATION 2:59 · Written before 390.
proposed
Joel again summons us wailing and will have the ministers of the altar lament under the conditions of famine. He does not allow us to revel in the misfortunes of others. After sanctifying a fast, calling a solemn assembly and gathering the old men, the children, and those of tender age, we ourselves must further haunt the temple in sackcloth and ashes, prostrated humbly on the ground, because the field is wasted and the meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord, till we draw down mercy by our humiliation.
(Verse 13, 14.) Clothe yourselves and lament, priests; howl, ministers of the altar; enter, lie down in sackcloth, ministers of my God, because the sacrifice and libation have perished from the house of your God; sanctify a fast, call an assembly, gather the elders, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God, and cry out to the Lord.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests,....
They must come together in the temple, the house of the Lord their God, because that was the house of prayer, and there they might be hope to meet with God because it was the place which he had chosen to put his name there, there they might hope to speed because it was a type of Christ and his mediation.
The words behind it
17 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חִגְר֨וּ | chigru | gird yourselves | H2296 → | |
| וְסִפְד֜וּ | vesifdu | and lament | H5594 → | |
| הַכֹּהֲנִ֗ים | hakohanim | O priests | H3548 → | 750 times |
| הֵילִ֙ילוּ֙ | heililu | wail | H3213 → | 30 times |
| מְשָׁרְתֵ֣י | mesharetei | O servants of | H8334 → | 97 times |
| מִזְבֵּ֔חַ | mizbeach | [the] altar | H4196 → | |
| בֹּ֚אוּ | bou | come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| לִ֣ינוּ | linu | spend [the] night | H3885 → | |
| בַשַּׂקִּ֔ים | vasakim | in <the> sackcloth<s> | H8242 → | |
| מְשָׁרְתֵ֖י | mesharetei | O servants of | H8334 → | 97 times |
| אֱלֹהָ֑י | ʾelohai | God my | H430 → | 2601 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| נִמְנַ֛ע | nimna' | it has been withheld | H4513 → | |
| מִבֵּ֥ית | mibeit | from [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֖ם | ʾeloheikhem | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| מִנְחָ֥ה | minchah | grain offering | H4503 → | 211 times |
| וָנָֽסֶךְ׃ | vanasekh | and drink offering | H5262 → | 64 times |
חִגְר֨וּgird yourselves
chigruH2296 →
וְסִפְד֜וּand lament
vesifduH5594 →
הַכֹּהֲנִ֗יםO priests
hakohanimH3548 →750 times
הֵילִ֙ילוּ֙wail
heililuH3213 →30 times
מְשָׁרְתֵ֣יO servants of
meshareteiH8334 →97 times
מִזְבֵּ֔חַ[the] altar
mizbeachH4196 →
בֹּ֚אוּcome
bouH935 →2568 times
לִ֣ינוּspend [the] night
linuH3885 →
בַשַּׂקִּ֔יםin <the> sackcloth<s>
vasakimH8242 →
מְשָׁרְתֵ֖יO servants of
meshareteiH8334 →97 times
אֱלֹהָ֑יGod my
ʾelohaiH430 →2601 times
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
נִמְנַ֛עit has been withheld
nimna'H4513 →
מִבֵּ֥יתfrom [the] house of
mibeitH1004 →2046 times
אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֖םGod your
ʾeloheikhemH430 →2601 times
מִנְחָ֥הgrain offering
minchahH4503 →211 times
וָנָֽסֶךְ׃and drink offering
vanasekhH5262 →64 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Joel 2:17Let the priests who minister before the LORD weep between the portico and the altar, saying, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your heritage a reproach, an object of scorn among…
it leads to
- Psalms 115:2
Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
- Ezekiel 8:16
So He brought me to the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five…
- Psalms 79:10
Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.
- Amos 7:2
And when the locusts had eaten every green plant in the land, I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”
- Psalms 115:2
Through
1 Kings 21:27When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He lay down in sackcloth and walked around meekly.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 6:30
When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. And as he passed by on the wall, the people saw the sackcloth under his clothes next to his skin.
- Genesis 37:34
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
- 2 Kings 6:30
Through
Jeremiah 4:8So put on sackcloth, mourn and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 6:26
O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
- Isaiah 22:12
On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.
- Jeremiah 6:26
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Joel
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory of Nazianzus, IN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT TO PONTUS, ORATION 2:59; Jerome, Commentary on Joel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.