Joel 3:1–21

God Judges the Nations

3“For behold, ^ain those days and at that time,

When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,

^2bI will also gather all nations,

And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;

And I ^cwill enter into judgment with them there

On account of My people, My heritage Israel,

Whom they have scattered among the nations;

They have also divided up My land.

³They have ^dcast lots for My people,

Have given a boy as payment for a harlot,

And sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

⁴“Indeed, what have you to do with Me,

^eO Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Philistia?

Will you ¹retaliate against Me?

But if you ²retaliate against Me,

Swiftly and speedily I will return your ³retaliation upon your own head;

⁵Because you have taken My silver and My gold,

And have carried into your temples My ⁴prized possessions.

⁶Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem

You have sold to the Greeks,

That you may remove them far from their borders.

⁷“Behold, ^fI will raise them

Out of the place to which you have sold them,

And will return your ⁵retaliation upon 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 ^gSabeans, ⁶

To a people ^hfar off;

For the Lord has spoken.”

⁹ⁱProclaim this among the nations:

“Prepare for war!

Wake up the mighty men,

Let all the men of war draw near,

Let them come up.

^10jBeat your plowshares into swords

And your ⁷pruning hooks into spears;

^kLet the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ”

¹¹Assemble and come, all you nations,

And gather together all around.

Cause ^lYour mighty ones to go down there, O Lord.

¹²“Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;

For there I will sit to ^mjudge all the surrounding nations.

¹³ⁿPut in the sickle, for ^othe harvest is ripe.

Come, go down;

For the ^pwinepress is full,

The vats overflow—

For their wickedness is great.”

¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!

For ^qthe day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

¹⁵The sun and moon will grow dark,

And the stars will diminish their brightness.

¹⁶The Lord also will roar from Zion,

And utter His voice from Jerusalem;

The heavens and earth will shake;

^rBut the Lord will be a shelter for His people,

And the strength of the children of Israel.

¹⁷“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,

Dwelling in Zion My ^sholy mountain.

Then Jerusalem shall be holy,

And no aliens shall ever pass through her again.”

God Blesses His People

¹⁸And it will come to pass in that day

That the mountains shall drip with new wine,

The hills shall flow with milk,

And all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water;

A ^tfountain shall flow from the house of the Lord

And water the Valley of ⁸Acacias.

¹⁹“Egypt shall be a desolation,

And Edom a desolate wilderness,

Because of violence against the people of Judah,

For they have shed innocent blood in their land.

²⁰But Judah shall abide forever,

And Jerusalem from generation to generation.

²¹For I will ^uacquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted;

For the Lord dwells in Zion.