Joel 1:5
“Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Joel rouses those numbed by wine to wake and weep, for the very supply they crave has been cut off.
What Does Joel 1:5 Mean?
The prophet turns first to the drinkers of wine, perhaps because they are the slowest to notice the crisis. He commands them to awake and weep. Their comfort is gone: the new wine, the fresh juice of the harvest, has been cut off from their mouths because the vines have been stripped. Those who lived for the next cup now find the cup empty.
There is mercy even in this rude awakening. God disturbs our small pleasures so that we will lift our eyes to larger realities. The numbed and self-soothed are called to feel grief, and grief, rightly directed, can be the doorway to repentance. When the things we lean on for escape are taken away, we are forced to face what we have been avoiding. Joel's sharp summons is meant not to mock but to rouse a sleeping people to seek their God.