Joel 3
Evangelical Heritage Version
The Promise of Judgment Against the Nations
2 I will gather all nations
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.[c]
There I will enter into judgment against them
for the sake of my possession, my people Israel,
whom they scattered among the nations.
The nations also divided up my land.
3 They cast lots for my people
and traded boys to pay prostitutes.
They sold girls for wine so that they could drink.
4 Tell me, what do you have against me,
Tyre and Sidon, and all you regions of Philistia?
Are you repaying me for something I have done?
If you are paying me back,
I will swiftly and speedily repay onto your own heads what you have done,
5 because you took my silver and my gold,
and you carried off my best treasures to your temples.
6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks,
in order to send them far from their own borders.
7 See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them,
and I will make what you have done return on your own heads.
8 I will sell your sons and daughters into the hands of the people of Judah,
and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.[d]
Yes, the Lord has spoken.
The Prophet’s Response
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
Consecrate yourselves for war!
Rouse the strong warriors!
Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords,
and your pruning knives into spears.
Let the weakling say, “I am a strong warrior!”
11 Come quickly to help, all you nations from every side,
and assemble there.
Bring down your strong warriors, O Lord!
The Lord’s Promise
12 Let the nations be roused.
Let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will be seated to judge all the nations.
13 Swing the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes,
for the winepress is full and the vats overflow,
because the nations’ wickedness is so 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 moon will be darkened,
and the stars will stop shining.
16 The Lord will roar from Zion
and shout from Jerusalem.
The sky and the earth will tremble.
But the Lord will be a refuge for his people,
a stronghold for the people of Israel.
17 Then you will know that I, the Lord your God, dwell in Zion, my holy mountain.
Jerusalem will be holy.
Foreigners will not pass through her again.
18 In that day the mountains will drip sweet wine,
and the hills will flow with milk.
All the stream beds of Judah will run with water.
A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house.
It will water the Valley of Acacias.
19 Egypt will be desolate.
Edom will be a desolate wilderness,
because of violence they committed against the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.
20 Judah will be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem through all generations.
21 I will pardon their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned.[e]
The Prophet’s Final Praise
The Lord dwells in Zion!
Footnotes
- Joel 3:1 Or return the captives
- Joel 3:1 English verses 3:1-21 are verses 4:1-21 in Hebrew.
- Joel 3:2 The Hebrew name Jehoshaphat means the Lord judges. The Bible does not mention any literal valley with this name. The name may refer to one of the valleys around Jerusalem, or it may be a figurative name like the Valley of Decision in 3:14.
- Joel 3:8 The Sabeans lived in south Arabia.
- Joel 3:21 Or I will avenge their blood, which I have not avenged. The text and meaning of the line are uncertain.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.