The Nations Will Be Judged
3 “In those days and at that time, I will return the riches of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will judge them for what they did to My people Israel. They have sent My people out among the different nations, and have divided up My land. 3 They have drawn names to see who would get My people. They have traded a boy for a woman who sells the use of her body. And they have sold a girl for wine to drink. 4 What are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the lands of Philistia? Are you paying Me back for something? If you are, I will be quick to pay you back! 5 You have taken My silver and My gold, and brought My riches to your places of worship. 6 You have sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, sending them far from their land. 7 So I am going to move them from the place where you have sold them, and do to you what you have done to them. 8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the sons of Judah. And they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away.” The Lord has spoken.
9 Make this known among the nations: Get ready for war! Call your strong men! Gather all the soldiers and let them come up! 10 Beat your plows into swords, and your vine hooks into spears. Let the weak say, “I am a powerful soldier.” 11 Hurry and come, all you nations on every side, and gather yourselves there. Bring down Your men of war, O Lord. 12 Let the nations get ready and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat. For there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side. 13 Use the long, sharp knife, for the fruit is full-grown. Come and crush the grapes, for the crushing-place is full. They flow over, for their sins are many. 14 Thousands and thousands are in the valley of God’s punishment. For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of God’s punishment. 15 The sun and moon become dark, and the stars stop shining. 16 The Lord makes a loud noise from Zion. He lets His voice be heard from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shake. But the Lord is a safe place for His people, a strong place to the sons of Israel.
17 “Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, living in Zion My holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will never pass through it again.
God Brings Good to His People
18 “In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine and the hills will flow with milk. All the rivers of Judah will flow with water. And a river will go out from the house of the Lord to water the valley of Shittim. 19 Egypt will be destroyed and Edom will become a desert waste, because of the bad things done to the sons of Judah. They have killed people in the land of Judah who were not guilty of wrong-doing. 20 But people will live in Judah and Jerusalem forever. 21 I will punish the ones who killed them, whom I have not yet punished, for the Lord lives in Zion.”