Joel 3

^3fFor then, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,^{* 2}I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with them there, on account of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations. They have divided my land^{* 3}and cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes and sold girls for wine and drunk it down.^*

⁴What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads swiftly and speedily.^{* 5}For you have taken my silver and my gold and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.^{g 6}You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them far from their own border. ⁷But now I will rouse them to leave the places to which you have sold them, and I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads.^{* 8}I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.^*

Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat

⁹Proclaim this among the nations:

Consecrate yourselves for war;

stir up the warriors.

Let all the soldiers draw near;

let them come up.

¹⁰Beat your plowshares into swords

and your pruning hooks into spears;

let the weakling say, “I am a warrior.”^*

¹¹Come quickly,^h

all you nations all around;

gather yourselves there.

Bring down your warriors, O Lord.^*

¹²Let the nations rouse themselves

and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,

for there I will sit to judge

all the neighboring nations.^*

¹³Put in the sickle,

for the harvest is ripe.

Go in, tread,

for the winepress is full.

The vats overflow,

for their wickedness is great.^*

¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes,

in the valley of decision!

For the day of the Lord is near

in the valley of decision.^*

¹⁵The sun and the moon are darkened,

and the stars withdraw their shining.

¹⁶The Lord roars from Zion

and utters his voice from Jerusalem,

and the heavens and the earth shake.

But the Lord is a refuge for his people,

a stronghold for the people of Israel.^*

The Glorious Future of Judah

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

dwell in Zion, my holy mountain.

And Jerusalem shall be holy,

and strangers shall never again pass through it.^*

¹⁸In that day

the mountains shall drip sweet wine,

the hills shall flow with milk,

and all the streambeds of Judah

shall flow with water;

a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord

and water the Wadi Shittim.^*

¹⁹Egypt shall become a desolation

and Edom a desolate wilderness,

because of the violence done to the people of Judah,

in whose land they have shed innocent blood.^*

²⁰But Judah shall be inhabited forever

and Jerusalem to all generations.^*

²¹I will avenge their blood, and I will not clear the guilty,ⁱ

for the Lord dwells in Zion.^*