JoelChapter 3

Tap any verse to comment or suggest a better wording.

¹"Yes, in those days and at that time,
when I bring Judah and Jerusalem back from captivity, ²I will gather all the nations.
I will bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
There I will judge them
for what they did to my people,
my inheritance, Israel.
They scattered my people among the nations,
and they divided up my land.a ³They cast lots for my people.
They traded a boy for a prostitute.
They sold a girl for wine to drink. ⁴Now what do you have against me,
Tyre, Sidon, and all you regions of Philistia?
Are you paying me back for something?
If you strike back at me,
I will quickly and swiftly
turn your payback onto your own heads. ⁵For you took my silver and gold.
You carried off my finest treasures
to your temples. ⁶You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks.
You sent them far from their homeland. ⁷Look, I will stir them up
from the places where you sold them.
I will turn your payback onto your own heads. ⁸I will sell your sons and daughters
into the hands of the people of Judah.
They will sell them to the Sabeans,
a nation far away."
The LORD has spoken. ⁹Announce this among the nations:
"Get ready for war!
Stir up the mighty soldiers!
Let all the men of war come near and attack! ¹⁰Beat your plow blades into swords,
and your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weak say, 'I am strong!' ¹¹Come quickly, all you nations from all around.
Gather yourselves together.
LORD, bring down your mighty ones! ¹²Let the nations be stirred up.
Let them come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
For there I will sit to judge
all the nations on every side. ¹³Swing the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Come, stomp the grapes,
for the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
because their evil is great. ¹⁴Crowds, huge crowds
in the valley of decision!
For the Day of the LORD is near
in the valley of decision. ¹⁵The sun and moon will grow dark,
and the stars will no longer shine. ¹⁶The LORD will roar from Zion.
He will shout from Jerusalem.
Heaven and earth will shake.
But the LORD will be a safe place for his people,
a strong fortress for the people of Israel. ¹⁷Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.
I live in Zion, my holy mountain.
Jerusalem will be holy.
Foreigners will never again invade it. ¹⁸On that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine,
and the hills will flow with milk.
All the streams of Judah will run with water.
A spring will flow out from the house of the LORD
and water the Valley of Acacias. ¹⁹Egypt will become empty and ruined,
and Edom will become a desert wasteland.
This is because of the violence done to the people of Judah.
In their land they spilled innocent blood. ²⁰But people will live in Judah forever,
and in Jerusalem through all generations. ²¹For I will avenge their blood,
which I have not yet avenged."
For the LORD lives in Zion.