The Lord Judges the Nations

3 1 “For behold, iin those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 jI 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, 3 and 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. 5 For 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. 7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and oI will return your payment on your own head. 8 I 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.”

9  Proclaim 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.

10  tBeat your plowshares into swords,

and tyour pruning hooks into spears;

let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”

11  uHasten and come,

all you surrounding nations,

and gather yourselves there.

vBring down your warriors, O Lord.

12  Let the nations stir themselves up

and come up to wthe Valley of Jehoshaphat;

xfor there I will sit to judge

all the surrounding nations.

13  yPut in the sickle,

zfor the harvest is ripe.

aGo in, tread,

afor the winepress is full.

The vats overflow,

for their evil is great.

14  Multitudes, multitudes,

in the valley of decision!

For bthe day of the Lord is near

in the valley of decision.

15  cThe sun and the moon are darkened,

and the stars withdraw their shining.

16  dThe Lord roars from Zion,

and dutters his voice from Jerusalem,

eand the heavens and the earth quake.

But the Lord is fa refuge to his people,

a stronghold to the people of Israel.

The Glorious Future of Judah

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

hwho dwells in Zion, imy holy mountain.

And Jerusalem shall be holy,

and jstrangers shall never again pass through it.

18  “And in that day

kthe mountains shall drip sweet wine,

and the hills shall flow with milk,

and lall the streambeds of Judah

shall flow with water;

mand a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord

and water the Valley of nShittim.

19  o“Egypt shall become a desolation

and pEdom a desolate wilderness,

qfor the violence done to the people of Judah,

because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

20  rBut Judah shall be inhabited forever,

and Jerusalem to all generations.

21  sI will avenge their blood,

blood I have not avenged,4

hfor the Lord dwells in Zion.”