The Nations Will Be Judged
3 “For behold, in those [climactic] days and at that time,
When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2
I will gather together all the [Gentile] nations [that were hostile to My people]
And bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat (the Lord has judged).
And there I will deal with them and enter into judgment with them there
For [their treatment of] My people, My inheritance, Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations,
And [because] they have encroached on My land and divided it up.
3
“They have also cast lots for My people,
And have traded a boy for a prostitute
And have sold a girl for wine that they may drink.
4 Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre and Sidon and all the [five small] regions of Philistia? Will you pay Me back for something [I have supposedly done to you]? Even if you do pay Me back, I will swiftly and speedily return your deed [of retaliation] on your own head.(A) 5 Because you have taken My silver and My gold and have carried My precious treasures to your temples and palaces, 6 and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the Greeks, so that you may send them far away from their territory, 7 behold, I am going to stir them up from the place where you have sold them [and return them to their land], and I shall return your action [of retaliation] on your own head. 8 Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the [a]Sabeans, to a distant nation,” for the Lord has spoken.(B)
9
Proclaim this among the [pagan] nations:
Prepare a war! Stir up the mighty men!
Let all the men of war come near, let them come up!
10
Beat your plowshares into swords
And your pruning hooks into spears;
Let the weak say, “I am strong!”(C)
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Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations,
And gather yourselves there;
Bring down, O Lord, Your mighty ones (Your warriors).
12
Let the nations be stirred [to action]
And come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
For there I will sit to judge and punish
All the surrounding nations.
13
Put in the sickle [of judgment], for the harvest is ripe;
Come, tread [the grapes], for the wine press is full;
The vats overflow, for the wickedness [of the people] is great.(D)
14
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision (judgment)!
For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision [when judgment is executed].(E)
15
The sun and the moon grow dark
And the stars lose their brightness.
16
The Lord thunders and roars from Zion
And utters His voice from Jerusalem [in judgment of His enemies],
And the heavens and the earth tremble and shudder;
But the Lord is a refuge for His people
And a stronghold [of protection] to the children of Israel.(F)
17
Then you will know and understand fully that I am the Lord your God,
Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.
Then Jerusalem will be holy,
And strangers [who do not belong] will no longer pass through it.
Judah Will Be Blessed
18
And in that day
The mountains will drip with sweet wine
And the hills will flow with milk;
And all the brooks and riverbeds of Judah will flow with water,
And a fountain will go out from the house of the Lord
To water the [desert] Valley of Shittim.(G)
19
Egypt will become a waste,
And Edom will become a desolate wilderness,
Because of their violence against the children of Judah,
In whose land they have shed innocent blood.(H)
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But Judah shall be inhabited forever
And Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21
And I shall avenge their blood which I have not avenged,
For the Lord dwells in Zion.
Footnotes
- Joel 3:8 Some archeologists believe this to be the ancient kingdom of Sheba (modern day Yemen). The Sabeans were involved primarily in the lucrative spice trade.
Cross references
- Joel 3:4 : Is 23; Ezek 26:1-18; Amos 1:6-10; Zeph 2:4-7; Zech 9:2-7
- Joel 3:8 : Is 14:2; 60:14
- Joel 3:10 : Is 2:4; Mic 4:3
- Joel 3:13 : Mark 4:29; Rev 14:15, 18-20
- Joel 3:14 : Zech 14:1-9
- Joel 3:16 : Amos 9:11-15; Mic 4:1-3; 5:2; Zeph 3:13-20; Zech 6:12, 13; 12:8, 9
- Joel 3:18 : Ezek 47:1-12; Amos 9:13; Zech 14:8
- Joel 3:19 : Ex 1:16; Amos 1:11