Yahweh’s Judgment on the Nations
3 [a] For look! In those days, and in that time, when I will return[b] the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all the nations, and I will bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will argue a case against them[c] there concerning my people and my inheritance Israel whom they have scattered among the nations, and my land that they have divided. 3 For my people they cast lots,[d] and they traded[e] the male child for the prostitute, and the female child they sold for wine and they drank it.
4 What are you to me, O Tyre and O Sidon, and all of the regions of Philistia? Are you repaying to me what is deserved? If you are recompensing me, I will return swiftly and quickly what you deserve on your head! 5 For you have taken my silver and my gold, and my beautiful treasures you have carried into your temples. 6 And the sons of Judah and Jerusalem you sold to the sons of the Greeks, in order to remove them from their border. 7 Look! I am rousing them from the place where you have sold them, and I will return what you deserve on your head! 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans and to a nation far away, for Yahweh has spoken.
Yahweh’s Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for war![f]
Stir up the mighty warriors;
let them approach and come up;
let all the men of war approach.
10 Beat your cutting tools of iron into swords
and your pruning hooks into spears;
let the weakling say, ‘I am a mighty warrior!’
11 Hurry and come,
all the nations, from all around,
and gather yourselves there.
Bring down your mighty warriors, O Yahweh!
12 Let the nations be roused and let them come up
to the valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit to judge
all the nations from all around.
13 Send forth the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe!
Go tread,
for the winepress is full!
The vats overflow,
because their evil is great!
14 Commotion, commotion
in the valley of decision!
For the day of Yahweh is near
in the valley of decision!
15 The sun and the moon grow dark,
and the stars have withheld[g] their splendor.
16 And Yahweh roars from Zion;
from Jerusalem he utters his voice,
and the heavens and the earth shake.
But Yahweh is a refuge for his people,
and a protection for the children of Israel.
17 And you will know that I, Yahweh your God,
am dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem will be a place of holiness,
and strangers will pass through it no longer.
18 And it will happen on that day;
the mountains will drip new wine,
and the hills will flow with milk,
and all the channels of Judah will flow with water.
A spring from the house of Yahweh will come forth,
and it will water the valley of Acacia Trees.[h]
19 Egypt will become a desolation,
and Edom will become a desolate desert,[i]
because of the violence they did against the children of Judah,
in whose land they have shed innocent blood.
20 But Judah will be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem for all generations.[j]
21 I will cleanse their bloodguilt[k] that I did not cleanse,[l]
for Yahweh is dwelling in Zion.
Footnotes
- Joel 3:1 Joel 3:1–21 in the English Bible is 4:1–21 in the Hebrew Bible
- Joel 3:1 Or “restore”
- Joel 3:2 Literally “a matter with them”
- Joel 3:3 Hebrew “lot”
- Joel 3:3 Literally “gave”
- Joel 3:9 Literally “Sanctify a battle”
- Joel 3:15 Literally “gathered”
- Joel 3:18 Or “the wadi Shittim”
- Joel 3:19 Literally “desert of desolation”
- Joel 3:20 Or “for each generation”
- Joel 3:21 Literally “I will not leave unpunished their blood”
- Joel 3:21 Or “I did not consider innocent”