| 1 | For behold, in those days and at that time when I shall reverse the captivity
and
restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, |
| 2 | I will gather all nations and will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and there will I deal with
and
execute judgment upon them for [their treatment of] My people and of My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and [because] they have divided My land. |
| 3 | And they have cast lots for My people, and have given a boy for a harlot and have sold a girl for juice [of the grape] and have drunk it. |
| 4 | Yes, and what are you to Me, O Tyre and Sidon and all the [five small] divisions of Philistia? Will you pay Me back for something? Even if you pay Me back, swiftly and speedily I will return your deed [of retaliation] upon your own head, |
| 5 | Because you have taken My silver and My gold and have carried into your temples
and
palaces My precious treasures, |
| 6 | And have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Grecians, that you may remove them far from their border. |
| 7 | Behold, I will stir them up out of the place to which you have sold them and will return your deed [of retaliation] upon your own head. |
| 8 | I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far off, for the Lord has spoken it. |
| 9 | Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare war! Stir up the mighty men! Let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. |
| 10 | Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong [a warrior]! |
| 11 | Hasten and come, all you nations round about, and assemble yourselves; there You, O Lord, will bring down Your mighty ones (Your warriors). |
| 12 | Let the nations bestir themselves and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. |
| 13 | Put in the sickle, for the [vintage] harvest is ripe; come, get down
and
tread the grapes, for the winepress is full; the vats overflow, for the wickedness [of the peoples] is great. |
| 14 | Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. |
| 15 | The sun and the moon are darkened and the stars withdraw their shining. |
| 16 | The Lord will thunder
and
roar from Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be a refuge for His people and a stronghold to the children of Israel. |
| 17 | So shall you know, understand,
and
realize that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. Then shall Jerusalem be holy, and strangers
and
foreigners [not born into the family of God] shall no more pass through it. |
| 18 | And in that day, the mountains shall drip with fresh juice [of the grape] and the hills shall flow with milk; and all the brooks
and
riverbeds of Judah shall flow with water, and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and shall water the Valley of Shittim. |
| 19 | Egypt shall be a desolation and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness for their violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. |
| 20 | But Judah shall remain
and
be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. |
| 21 | And I will cleanse
and
hold as innocent their blood
and
avenge it, blood which I have not cleansed, held innocent,
and
avenged, for the Lord dwells in Zion. |
Cross references:
-
Joel 3:4 : Isa. 23; Ezek. 26:1-18; Amos 1:6-10; Zeph. 2:4-7; Zech. 9:2-7.
-
Joel 3:8 : Isa. 14:2; 60:14.
-
Joel 3:10 : Isa. 2:4; Mic. 4:3.
-
Joel 3:13 : Mark 4:29; Rev. 14:15, 18-20.
-
Joel 3:14 : Zech. 14:1-9.
-
Joel 3:16 : Amos 9:11-15; Mic. 4:1-3; 5:2; Zeph. 3:13-20; Zech. 6:12, 13; 12:8, 9.
-
Joel 3:18 : Ezek. 47:1-12; Amos 9:13; Zech. 14:8.
|