Swarms of locusts make you sober up!

1 Cor. 15:34 instructs : get sober – eknēphō! Likewise Joel 1:5 (Sept.) also says people got sober – eknēphō! This is certainly not “moderate drinking!”

1 Cor. 15:32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
1 Cor. 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
1 Cor. 15:34 {eknēphō} Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

(ESV)

Evidently in Greek: getting sober meant nobody drank at all; no drinks were available! You will never find so-called “moderate drinking” in Joel 1:5! Notice:

  1. Nobody could be drunkards… So get sober!
  2. Nobody could be drinkers… So get sober!
  3. Joel (in Hebrew) indicates nobody could then even taste any of the {ahsis} fresh-juice because none was available after many swarms of locusts had devoured all the vines! Compare Deut. 28:38-39

{Eknēphō in Greek} Awake, ye drunkards, and weep, And howl all drinking {yayin in Hebrew} wine, because of the {ahsis in Hebrew} juice, For it hath been cut off from your mouth.

swarming locusts leave nothing behind
swarming locusts leave nothing behind

(Joel 1:5 Young’s Literal Translation)

Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.
What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.
Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and wail, all you drinkers of {yayin} wine, because of the {ahsis} sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.
For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions’ teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness.
It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white. (Joel 1:2-7 ESV)

Eknēphō: sober up in Greek Septuagint translation (Joel 1:5).

Ahsis is a Hebrew word meaning ‘fresh-juice’ (sometimes from various fruits, for example ‘fresh-juice’ of pomegranates – Song 8:2b). Elsewhere the Septuagint rendered ahsis as glukasmon for Joel 3:18 and Amos 9:13, though it does not appear to render anything directly for ahsis in Joel 1:5.)

Conclusion: sober up.

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