Joel 3
The LORD Judges the Nations
[1] “For behold, 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 behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, [3] and have 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, 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 return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. [5] For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. [6] You have sold the 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 I 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 Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the LORD has spoken.”
[9] Proclaim this among the nations:
Consecrate for 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 a warrior.”
[11] Hasten and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves there.
Bring down your warriors, O LORD.
[12] Let the nations stir themselves up
and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
for there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
[13] Put in the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Go in, tread,
for the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
for their evil 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 roars from Zion,
and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
and the heavens and the earth quake.
But the LORD is a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.
The Glorious Future of Judah
[17] “So you shall know that I am the LORD your God,
who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and strangers shall never again pass through it.
[18] “And in that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD
and water the Valley of Shittim.
[19] “Egypt shall become a desolation
and Edom a desolate wilderness,
for the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
[20] But Judah shall be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
[21] I will avenge their blood,
blood I have not avenged,
for the LORD dwells in Zion.” (ESV)
