Future blessings

18 Then the Lord became deeply concerned for his land, and took pity upon his people, 19 and the Lord answered and said to his people:

I will send you corn, wine, and oil.

You will be satisfied.

I will not make you again

an object of scorn among the nations,

20 I will remove far from you the northern foe,

and I will drive it into a land barren and desolate,

its front into the eastern sea,

and its rear to the western sea.

And from it a stench will arise.

He has done great things!

21 Fear not, land, exult.

Rejoice for the Lord has done great things!

22 Fear not, animals of the field.

For the pastures of the wilderness are putting forth new grass,

for the trees bear their fruit,

fig tree and vine yield full harvest.

23 Be glad, then, children of Zion,

and rejoice in the Lord your God,

for he has given you the early rain in just measure,

and poured down upon you the winter rain,

and sent the latter rain as before.

24 The threshing floors will be full of grain,

and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

25 I will repay you for the years

which the swarming locust has eaten.

The hopping, the destroying, and the cutting locusts,

my great army which I sent among you,

and my people will never again be put to shame.

26 You will eat your food and be satisfied,

and praise the name of the Lord your God,

who has dealt so wonderfully by you,

27 and you will know that I am in the midst of Israel,

that I am the Lord your God and none else,

and my people will never again be put to shame.

28 Afterwards,

I will pour out my spirit on everyone.

Your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

your old men will dream dreams.

Your young men will see visions,

29 and even on your male and female slaves

in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

30 And I will show signs in the sky and on earth:

Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.

31 The sun will be turned into darkness,

and the moon into blood

before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.

32 But whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, even as the Lord has said, and among the fugitives those whom the Lord calls.

3 For, in those days and in that time, when I bring back again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will also gather all the nations and bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and there I will enter into judgment with them for my people and my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and divided my land.

3 They have cast lots for my people.

They have traded boys

for prostitutes,

and sold girls for wine,

and drunk it.

4 What are you to me, Tyre and Sidon and all the districts of Philistia? Were you repaying any deed of mine, or were you doing something for me? Quickly will I return your deed upon your heads. 5 You who have taken my silver and my gold, and you have brought my goodly jewels into your palaces, 6 you have sold the people of Judah and of Jerusalem to the Greeks, so that you might remove them far from their own borders. 7 I am about to stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will turn your deeds upon your own head. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far off, for the Lord has spoken.

9 Proclaim this among the nations, sanctify war.

Arouse the warriors,

let all the fighting men muster and go up.

10 Beat your ploughshares into swords,

and your pruning-hooks into lances;

let the weak say, I, indeed, am strong.

11 Bestir yourselves and come,

all you nations round about.

Quickly gather yourselves together,

ask the Lord to bring his warriors.

12 Let the nations rouse themselves

and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat,

for there will I sit to judge

all the surrounding nations.

13 Put in the sickle,

for the harvest is ripe;

go in, tread,

for the wine press is full.

The vats overflow,

for great is their wickedness.

14 Noisy multitudes, noisy multitudes

in the valley of decision.

For near is the Lord’s day in the valley of decision!

15 Sun and moon have turned dark,

and the stars withdrawn their shining.

16 Whenever the Lord roars from Zion

and utters his voice from Jerusalem,

earth and sky quake;

but the Lord is a refuge to his people,

and a fortress to the people of Israel.

17 And you will know that I am the Lord your God,

I who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain,

and Jerusalem will be holy,

and strangers will not pass through her any more.

18 In that day,

the mountains will drop sweet wine,

the hills will flow with milk,

all the channels of Judah will flow with water,

a fountain will spring from the house of Judah,

and will water the Valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt will become a desolation,

and Edom a wilderness,

because of the violence done to the people of Judah,

because they shed innocent blood in their land,

20 Judah will remain inhabited forever,

and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 I will avenge their blood which I have not yet avenged.

The Lord lives in Zion!