Joel 1:14
in Joel 1Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the old men and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of Jehovah your God, and cry unto Jehovah.
KJV
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,
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This verse in Joel 1
Commentary
9 notes on this verseCall a solemn assembly - עצרה atsarah signifies a time of restraint, as the margin has it. The clause should be translated - consecrate a fast, proclaim a time of restraint; that is, of total abstinence from food, and from all secular employment. All the elders of the land and the representatives of the people were to be collected at the temple to cry unto the Lord, to confess their sins, and pray for mercy. The temple was not yet destroyed. This prophecy was delivered before the captivity of Judah.
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
(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.
If God does not desire fasting, how is it that in Leviticus he commands the whole people in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, to fast until the evening, and threatens that he who does not constrain his soul shall die and be cut off from his people? How is it that the graves of lust, where the people fell in their devotions to flesh, remain even to this day in the wilderness? Do we not read that the stupid people gorged themselves with quails until the wrath of God came upon them?
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Sanctify ye - Ye priests, set apart a day wherein to afflict yourselves, confess your sins, and sue out your pardon. Into the house - The courts of the temple, where the people were wont to pray.
Sanctify yea a fast,....
This Joel was long after that. He here speaks of a sad and sore judgment which was now brought, or to be brought, upon Judah, for their sins. The greatness of the judgment, expressed here in two things:-- 1.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Sanctify . . . a fast--Appoint a solemn fast. solemn assembly--literally, a "day of restraint" or cessation from work, so that all might give themselves to supplication (Joe 2:15, 16; 2Ch 20:3-13). elders--The contrast to "children" (Joe 2:16) requires age to be intended, though probably elders in office are included.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Sanctify ye a fast - He does not say only, “proclaim,” or “appoint a fast,” but “sanctify it.” Hallow the act of abstinence, seasoning it with devotion and with acts meet for repentance. For fasting is not accepted by God, unless done in charity and obedience to His commands. : “Sanctify” it, i. e., make it an offering to God, and as it were a sacrifice, a holy and blameless fast.” : “To sanctify a fast is to exhibit abstinence of the flesh, meet toward God, with other good. Let anger cease, strife be lulled. For in vain is the flesh worn, if the mind is not held in from evil passions, inasmuch as the Lord saith by the prophet, “Lo! in the day of your fast you find your pleasures” Isa 58:3. The fast which the Lord approveth, is that which lifteth up to Him hands full of almsdeeds, which is passed with brotherly love, which is seasoned by piety. What thou substractest from thyself, bestow on another, that thy needy neighbor’s flesh may be recruited by means of that which thou deniest to thine own.” Call a solemn assembly - Fasting without devotion is an image of famine. At other times “the solemn assembly” was for festival-joy. Such was the last day of the feast of the Passover Deu 16:8 and of tabernacles Lev 23:36; Num 29:35; 2Ch 7:9; Neh 8:18. No servile work was to be done thereon. It was then to be consecrated to thanksgving, but now to sorrow and supplication. : “The prophet commands that all should be called and gathered into the Temple, that so the prayer might be the rather heard, the more they were who offered it. Wherefore the Apostle besought his disciples to pray for him, that so what was asked might be obtained the more readily through the intercession of many.” Gather the elders - Age was, by God’s appointment Lev 19:32, held in great reverence among the Hebrews. […]
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| קַדְּשׁוּ־ | kadeshu- | consecrate | H6942 → | 171 times |
| צוֹם֙ | tzom | a fast | H6685 → | 26 times |
| קִרְא֣וּ | kiru | call | H7121 → | 733 times |
| עֲצָרָ֔ה | ʾatzarah | an assembly | H6116 → | |
| אִסְפ֣וּ | ʾisfu | gather | H622 → | 200 times |
| זְקֵנִ֗ים | zekenim | [the] elders | H2205 → | 178 times |
| כֹּ֚ל | kol | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| יֹשְׁבֵ֣י | yoshevei | [the] inhabitants of | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| הָאָ֔רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| בֵּ֖ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֑ם | ʾeloheikhem | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| וְזַעֲק֖וּ | vezaaku | and cry out | H2199 → | |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
קַדְּשׁוּ־consecrate
kadeshu-H6942 →171 times
צוֹם֙a fast
tzomH6685 →26 times
קִרְא֣וּcall
kiruH7121 →733 times
עֲצָרָ֔הan assembly
ʾatzarahH6116 →
אִסְפ֣וּgather
ʾisfuH622 →200 times
זְקֵנִ֗ים[the] elders
zekenimH2205 →178 times
כֹּ֚לall
kolH3605 →5413 times
יֹשְׁבֵ֣י[the] inhabitants of
yosheveiH3427 →1079 times
הָאָ֔רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
בֵּ֖ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
יְהוָ֣הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֑םGod your
ʾeloheikhemH430 →2601 times
וְזַעֲק֖וּand cry out
vezaakuH2199 →
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 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
Leviticus 23:36For seven days you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you are to hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made by fire to…
it leads to
- Nehemiah 8:18
Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. The Israelites kept the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day they…
- John 7:37
On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- Deuteronomy 16:8
For six days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day you shall hold a solemn assembly to the LORD your God, and you must not do any work.
- Numbers 29:12–38
On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work, and you shall observe a feast to the LORD for seven days.
- 2 Chronicles 7:8–11
So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a very great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast for seven days.
- Nehemiah 8:18
Through
Jonah 3:8Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands.
it leads to
- Isaiah 55:6–7
Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
- Jonah 1:6
The captain approached him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call upon your God. Perhaps this God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
- Isaiah 59:6
Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their deeds are sinful deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.
- Isaiah 55:6–7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Joel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Joel; Jerome, AGAINST JOVINIANUS 2:17; 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.