Joel 3

The Nations Judged

¹“In those days and at that time,

when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

²I will gather all nations

and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.

There I will put them on trial

for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel,

because they scattered my people among the nations

and divided up my land.

³They cast lots for my people

and traded boys for prostitutes;

they sold girls for wine to drink.

⁴“Now what have you against me, Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done. ⁵For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples. ⁶You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland.

⁷“See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them, and I will return on your own heads what you have done. ⁸I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.” The Lord has spoken.

⁹Proclaim this among the nations:

Prepare for war!

Rouse the warriors!

Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.

¹⁰Beat your plowshares into swords

and your pruning hooks into spears.

Let the weakling say,

“I am strong!”

¹¹Come quickly, all you nations from every side,

and assemble there.

Bring down your warriors, Lord!

¹²“Let the nations be roused;

let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,

for there I will sit

to judge all the nations on every side.

¹³Swing the sickle,

for the harvest is ripe.

Come, trample the grapes,

for the winepress is full

and the vats overflow—

so great is their wickedness!”

¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes

in the valley of decision!

For the day of the Lord is near

in the valley of decision.

¹⁵The sun and moon will be darkened,

and the stars no longer shine.

¹⁶The Lord will roar from Zion

and thunder from Jerusalem;

the earth and the heavens will tremble.

But the Lord will be a refuge for his people,

a stronghold for the people of Israel.

Blessings for God’s People

¹⁷“Then you will know that I, the Lord your God,

dwell in Zion, my holy hill.

Jerusalem will be holy;

never again will foreigners invade her.

¹⁸“In that day the mountains will drip new wine,

and the hills will flow with milk;

all the ravines of Judah will run with water.

A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house

and will water the valley of acacias.

¹⁹But Egypt will be desolate,

Edom a desert waste,

because of violence done to the people of Judah,

in whose land they shed innocent blood.

²⁰Judah will be inhabited forever

and Jerusalem through all generations.

²¹Shall I leave their innocent blood unavenged?

No, I will not.”

The Lord dwells in Zion!