Joel 3:1–14

The Lord Judges the Nations

3¹ “For behold, ⁱin those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, ^2jI will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And ^kI 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, ³and ^lhave 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, ^mO Tyre and Sidon, and all ⁿthe regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, ^oI will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. ⁵For ^pyou have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.^{2 6}You have sold ^qthe people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. ⁷Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and ^oI will return your payment on your own head. ⁸I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the ^rSabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”

⁹Proclaim this among the nations:

^sConsecrate for war;³

stir up the mighty men.

Let all the men of war draw near;

let them come up.

^10tBeat your plowshares into swords,

and ^tyour pruning hooks into spears;

let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”

^11uHasten and come,

all you surrounding nations,

and gather yourselves there.

^vBring down your warriors, O Lord.

¹²Let the nations stir themselves up

and come up to ^wthe Valley of Jehoshaphat;

^xfor there I will sit to judge

all the surrounding nations.

^13yPut in the sickle,

^zfor the harvest is ripe.

^aGo in, tread,

^afor the winepress is full.

The vats overflow,

for their evil is great.

¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes,

in the valley of decision!

For ^bthe day of the Lord is near

in the valley of decision.