Joel 3

The  Lord Judges the Nations

1  ▼
▼ Ch 4:1 in Hebrew
 “For behold b in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2  c I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And d I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, 3 and e have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.

4 “What are you to me, f O Tyre and Sidon, and all g the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, h I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. 5 For i you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. ▼
▼ Or palaces
 6 You have sold k the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. 7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and l I will return your payment on your own head. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the m Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the  Lord has spoken.”

9  Proclaim this among the nations:
n Consecrate for war; ▼
▼ Or  Consecrate a war

stir up the mighty men.
Let all the men of war draw near;
let them come up.
 10  p Beat your plowshares into swords,
and q your pruning hooks into spears;
let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
 11  r Hasten and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves there.
s Bring down your warriors, O  Lord.
 12 Let the nations stir themselves up
and come up to t the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
u for there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
 13  v Put in the sickle,
w for the harvest is ripe.
x Go in, tread,
y for the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
for their evil is great.
 14  Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For z the day of the  Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
 15  aa The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
 16  ab The  Lord roars from Zion,
and ac utters his voice from Jerusalem,
ad and the heavens and the earth quake.
But the  Lord is ae a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.

The Glorious Future of Judah

17  af “So you shall know that I am the  Lord your God,
ag who dwells in Zion, ah my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and ai strangers shall never again pass through it.
 18  “And in that day
aj the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and ak all the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
al and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the  Lord
and water the Valley of am Shittim.
 19  an “Egypt shall become a desolation
and ao Edom a desolate wilderness,
ap for the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
 20  aq But Judah shall be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
 21  ar I will avenge their blood,
blood I have not avenged ▼
▼ Or  I will acquit their bloodguilt that I have not acquitted

at for the  Lord dwells in Zion.”
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