The Meaning of Joel 1:5 Explained

Joel 1:5

KJV: 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.

YLT: Awake, ye drunkards, and weep, And howl all drinking wine, because of the juice, For it hath been cut off from your mouth.

Darby: 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.

ASV: Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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. 

What does Joel 1:5 Mean?

Context Summary

Joel 1:1-20 - A Summons To Penitence
We know nothing of Joel beyond this book. He was content to be God's mouthpiece and remain unknown. His message was one of unparalleled woe. The memory of God's loving kindness ought to have kept His people faithful and loyal, but since grace and love had failed to affect them awful judgments were announced. A small insect, the locust, was to prostrate man's boasted power. The four kinds of locusts here described and which doubtless devastated the country, were also symbols of the four world-empires, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and Rome, which were to lay waste the Holy Land. Such judgments call for acts of repentance, such as fasting, humiliation, and intercession. There are days in national experience when it becomes us to gird ourselves and lament. The ministers and elders of the Church should lead the way. Where there has been infidelity to the great Lover of souls, when the visible Church or the individual member has turned from Christ to the wanton world, then joy withers away, Joel 1:12, spiritual worship ceases, Joel 1:9, and there can be neither peace nor safety until there has been repentance and return. [source]

Chapter Summary: Joel 1

1  Joel, declaring various judgments of God, exhorts to observe them,
8  and to mourn
14  He prescribes a solemn fast to deprecate those judgments

What do the individual words in Joel 1:5 mean?

Awake you drunkards and weep and wail all you drinkers of wine because of the new wine for it has been cut off from your mouth
הָקִ֤יצוּ שִׁכּוֹרִים֙ וּבְכ֔וּ וְהֵילִ֖לוּ כָּל־ שֹׁ֣תֵי יָ֑יִן עַל־ עָסִ֕יס כִּ֥י נִכְרַ֖ת מִפִּיכֶֽם

הָקִ֤יצוּ  Awake 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: קוּץ 
Sense: to awake, wake up.
שִׁכּוֹרִים֙  you  drunkards 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural
Root: שִׁכֹּור  
Sense: drunken.
וּבְכ֔וּ  and  weep 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: בָּכָה  
Sense: to weep, bewail, cry, shed tears.
וְהֵילִ֖לוּ  and  wail 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: יָלַל  
Sense: (Hiphil) to howl, wail, make a howling.
שֹׁ֣תֵי  you  drinkers 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine plural construct
Root: שָׁתָה  
Sense: to drink.
יָ֑יִן  of  wine 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: יַיִן  
Sense: wine.
עַל־  because 
Parse: Preposition
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
עָסִ֕יס  of  the  new  wine 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: עָסִיס  
Sense: sweet wine, wine, pressed out juice.
נִכְרַ֖ת  it  has  been  cut  off 
Parse: Verb, Nifal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: כָּרַת  
Sense: to cut, cut off, cut down, cut off a body part, cut out, eliminate, kill, cut a covenant.
מִפִּיכֶֽם  from  your  mouth 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine singular construct, second person masculine plural
Root: פֶּה  
Sense: mouth.