Joel 1:13

A Call to Repentance

13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; ¹ 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.

Joel 1:13 Meaning and Commentary

Joel 1:13

Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests
Prepare and be ready to raise up lamentation and mourning; or gird yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn in that, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi supply the words; see ( Jeremiah 4:8 ) ; howl, ye ministers of the altar;
who served there, by laying on and burning the sacrifices, or offering incense: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God;
that is, come into the house of the Lord, as Kimchi; into the court of the priests, and there lie all night, in the sackcloth girded with; putting up prayers to God, with weeping and lamentations, that he would avert the judgments that were come or were coming upon theme: for the meat offering and the drink offering are withholden from the
house of your God; (See Gill on Joel 1:9).

Joel 1:13 In-Context

11 Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

12 The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, palm, and apple— all the trees of the orchard—are withered. Surely the joy of mankind has dried up.

13 Put 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.

14 Consecrate 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.

15 Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

Cross References

• 1. (Amos 5:4–15; Zephaniah 2:1–3; Luke 13:1–5)