Joel 3

Yahweh’s Judgment on the Nations

3^a For look! In those days, and in that time, when I will return^b the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, ²I will gather all the nations, and I will bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will argue a case against them^c there concerning my people and my inheritance Israel whom they have scattered among the nations, and my land that they have divided. ³For my people they cast lots,^d and they traded^e the male child for the prostitute, and the female child they sold for wine and they drank it.

⁴What are you to me, O Tyre and O Sidon, and all of the regions of Philistia? Are you repaying to me what is deserved? If you are recompensing me, I will return swiftly and quickly what you deserve on your head! ⁵For you have taken my silver and my gold, and my beautiful treasures you have carried into your temples. ⁶And the sons of Judah and Jerusalem you sold to the sons of the Greeks, in order to remove them from their border. ⁷Look! I am rousing them from the place where you have sold them, and I will return what you deserve on your head! ⁸I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans and to a nation far away, for Yahweh has spoken.

Yahweh’s Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat

⁹Proclaim this among the nations:

Prepare for war!^f

Stir up the mighty warriors;

let them approach and come up;

let all the men of war approach.

¹⁰Beat your cutting tools of iron into swords

and your pruning hooks into spears;

let the weakling say, ‘I am a mighty warrior!’

¹¹Hurry and come,

all the nations, from all around,

and gather yourselves there.

Bring down your mighty warriors, O Yahweh!

¹²Let the nations be roused and let them come up

to the valley of Jehoshaphat,

for there I will sit to judge

all the nations from all around.

¹³Send forth the sickle,

for the harvest is ripe!

Go tread,

for the winepress is full!

The vats overflow,

because their evil is great!

¹⁴Commotion, commotion

in the valley of decision!

For the day of Yahweh is near

in the valley of decision!

¹⁵The sun and the moon grow dark,

and the stars have withheld^g their splendor.

¹⁶And Yahweh roars from Zion;

from Jerusalem he utters his voice,

and the heavens and the earth shake.

But Yahweh is a refuge for his people,

and a protection for the children of Israel.

¹⁷And you will know that I, Yahweh your God,

am dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain.

And Jerusalem will be a place of holiness,

and strangers will pass through it no longer.

¹⁸And it will happen on that day;

the mountains will drip new wine,

and the hills will flow with milk,

and all the channels of Judah will flow with water.

A spring from the house of Yahweh will come forth,

and it will water the valley of Acacia Trees.^h

¹⁹Egypt will become a desolation,

and Edom will become a desolate desert,ⁱ

because of the violence they did against the children of Judah,

in whose land they have shed innocent blood.

²⁰But Judah will be inhabited forever,

and Jerusalem for all generations.^j

²¹I will cleanse their bloodguilt^k that I did not cleanse,^l

for Yahweh is dwelling in Zion.