Joel 1:13 (DRB)

Passage

Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests, howl, ye ministers of the altars: go in, lie in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: because sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God.

Nearby Context

Joel 1:11 The husbandmen are ashamed, the vinedressers have howled for the wheat, and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished.

Joel 1:12 The vineyard is confounded, and the fig tree hath languished: the pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the apple tree, and all the trees of the field are withered: because joy is withdrawn from the children of men.

Joel 1:13 Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests, howl, ye ministers of the altars: go in, lie in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: because sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God.

Joel 1:14 Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly, gather together the ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God: and cry ye to the Lord:

Joel 1:15 Ah, ah, ah, for the day: because the day of the Lord is at hand, and it shall come like destruction from the mighty.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "gird", "yourselves", "lament", "priests", "howl", "ministers", "altars", and "sackcloth". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "gird" and "yourselves", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 12's "The vineyard is confounded and the fig..." into verse 14's "Sanctify ye a fast call an assembly...", so "gird" and "yourselves" belong inside that flow. In Joel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "gird" and "yourselves" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.