Joel 4:9-21

Complete Jewish Bible

⁹ “Proclaim this among the nations:
‘Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors!
Let all the fighting men approach and attack.’
¹⁰ Hammer your plow-blades into swords
and your pruning-knives into spears.
Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’
¹¹ Hurry, come, you surrounding nations,
gather yourselves together!”

Bring your warriors down, Adonai!

¹² “Let the nations be roused and come up
to the Valley of Y’hoshafat [Adonai judges].
For there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.”

¹³ Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe;
come, and tread, for the winepress is full.
The vats are overflowing,
for their wickedness is great.
¹⁴ Such enormous crowds
in the Valley of Decision!
For the Day of Adonai is upon us
in the Valley of Decision!
¹⁵ The sun and moon have grown black,
and the stars have stopped shining.
¹⁶ Adonai will roar from Tziyon,
he will thunder from Yerushalayim,
the sky and the earth will shake.

But Adonai will be a refuge for his people,
a stronghold for the people of Isra’el.
¹⁷ “You will know that I am Adonai your God,
living on Tziyon my holy mountain.”

Then Yerushalayim will be holy,
and foreigners will pass through her no more.
¹⁸ Then, when that time comes,
the mountains will drip with sweet wine,
the hills will flow with milk,
all the streambeds of Y’hudah will run with water,
and a spring will flow from the house of Adonai
to water the Sheetim Valley.

¹⁹ But Egypt will be desolate
and Edom a desert waste,
because of the violence done to the people of Y’hudah,
because they shed innocent blood in their land.

²⁰ Y’hudah will be inhabited forever,
Yerushalayim through all generations.
²¹ “I will cleanse them of bloodguilt
which I have not yet cleansed,”
for Adonai is living in Tziyon.