Joel 3

God Will Judge the Nations

3The Lord says,

“At that time I will restore

the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem.

²I will gather all the nations

and bring them to the Valley of Judgement.

There I will judge them

for all they have done to my people.

They have scattered the Israelites in foreign countries

and divided up Israel, my land.

³They threw dice to decide

who would get the captives.

They sold boys and girls into slavery

to pay for prostitutes and wine.

^4*“What are you trying to do to me, Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you trying to pay me back for something? If you are, I will quickly pay you back! ^5*You have taken my silver and gold and carried my rich treasures into your temples. ^6*You have taken the people of Judah and Jerusalem far from their own country and sold them to the Greeks. ^7*Now I am going to bring them out of the places to which you have sold them. I will do to you what you have done to them. ^8*I will let your sons and daughters be sold to the people of Judah; they will sell them to the far-off Sabeans. I, the Lord, have spoken.

⁹“Make this announcement among the nations:

‘Prepare for war;

call your warriors;

gather all your soldiers and march!

^10*Hammer the points of your ploughs into swords and your

pruning knives into spears.

Even the weak must fight.

¹¹Hurry^c and come,

all you surrounding nations,

and gather in the valley.’ ”

Send down, O Lord, your army to attack them.

¹²“The nations must get ready

and come to the Valley of Judgement.

There I, the Lord, will sit to judge

all the surrounding nations. ^13*They are very wicked; cut them down like corn

at harvest time; crush them as grapes are crushed

in a full winepress

until the wine runs over.”

¹⁴Thousands and thousands

are in the Valley of Judgement.

It is there that the day of the Lord

will soon come.

¹⁵The sun and the moon grow dark,

and the stars no longer shine.

God Will Bless His People

¹⁶The Lord roars from Mount Zion;

his voice thunders from Jerusalem;

earth and sky tremble. But he will defend his people.

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

I live on Zion, my sacred hill.

Jerusalem will be a sacred city;

foreigners will never conquer it again.

¹⁸“At that time the mountains will be covered with vineyards,

and cattle will be found on every hill;

there will be plenty of water for all the streams of Judah.

A stream will flow from the Temple of the Lord,

and it will water the Valley of Acacia.

¹⁹“Egypt will become a desert,

and Edom a ruined waste, because they attacked the land of Judah

and killed its innocent people.

^20–21I will avenge^d those who were killed;

I will not spare the guilty.

But Judah and Jerusalem will be inhabited for ever,

and I, the Lord, will live on Mount Zion.”