Joel 3

Judgment of the Nations

¹Yes, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,²

³I will gather all the nations and take them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. I will enter into judgment with them there because of my people, my inheritance Israel. The nations have scattered the Israelites in foreign countries and divided up my land.⁴

⁵They cast lots for my people; they bartered a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine to drink.⁶

⁷And also: Tyre, Sidon, and all the territories of Philistia — what are you to me? Are you paying me back or trying to get even with me? I will quickly bring retribution on your heads.⁸⁹For you took my silver and gold and carried my finest treasures to your temples.¹⁰¹¹You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks to remove them far from their own territory.¹²¹³Look, I am about to rouse them up from the place where you sold them; I will bring retribution on your heads.¹⁴¹⁵I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation, for the Lord has spoken.¹⁶

¹⁷Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for holy war; rouse the warriors; let all the men of war advance and attack!¹⁸

¹⁹Beat your plows into swords and your pruning knives into spears. Let even the weakling say, “I am a warrior.”²⁰

²¹Come quickly, all you surrounding nations; gather yourselves. Bring down your warriors there, Lord.²²

²³Let the nations be roused and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit down to judge all the surrounding nations.²⁴

²⁵Swing the sickle because the harvest is ripe. Come and trample the grapes because the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because the wickedness of the nations is extreme.²⁶

²⁷Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.²⁸

²⁹The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will cease their shining.³⁰

³¹The Lord will roar from Zion and make his voice heard from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will shake. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the Israelites.³²

Israel Blessed

³³Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, and foreigners will never overrun it again.³⁴

³⁵In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the streams of Judah will flow with water, and a spring will issue from the Lord’s house, watering the Valley of Acacias.³⁶

³⁷Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah in whose land they shed innocent blood.³⁸

³⁹But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.⁴⁰

⁴¹I will pardon their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, for the Lord dwells in Zion.⁴²