LEB JOEL Chapter 3

Yahweh’s Judgment on the Nations

3 [fn] For look! In those days, and in that time, when I will return[fn] the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all the nations, and I will bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will argue ⌊a case against them⌋[fn] there concerning my people and my inheritance Israel whom they have scattered among the nations, and my land that they have divided. 3 For my people they cast lots,[fn] and ⌊they traded⌋[fn] the male child for the prostitute, and the female child they sold for wine and they drank it.

4 What are you to me, O Tyre and O Sidon, and all of the regions of Philistia? Are you repaying to me what is deserved? If you are recompensing me, I will return swiftly and quickly what you deserve on your head! 5 For you have taken my silver and my gold, and my beautiful treasures you have carried into your temples. 6 And the sons of Judah and Jerusalem you sold to the sons of the Greeks, in order to remove them from their border. 7 Look! I am rousing them from the place where you have sold them, and I will return what you deserve on your 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 and to a nation far away, for Yahweh has spoken.

Yahweh’s Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat

• 9 Proclaim this among the nations:
  • Prepare for war ![fn]
    • Stir up the mighty warriors;
• let them approach and come up;
  • let all the men of war approach.
• 10 Beat your cutting tools of iron into swords
  • and your pruning hooks into spears;
    • let the weakling say, ‘I am a mighty warrior!’
• 11 Hurry and come,
  • all the nations, from all around,
    • and gather yourselves there.
• Bring down your mighty warriors, O Yahweh!
• 12 Let the nations be roused and let them come up
  • to the valley of Jehoshaphat,
• for there I will sit to judge
  • all the nations from all around.
• 13 Send forth the sickle,
  • for the harvest is ripe!
    • Go tread,
• for the winepress is full!
  • The vats overflow,
    • because their evil is great!
• 14 Commotion, commotion
  • in the valley of decision!
• For the day of Yahweh is near
  • in the valley of decision!
• 15 The sun and the moon grow dark,
  • and the stars have withheld[fn] their splendor.
• 16 And Yahweh roars from Zion;
  • from Jerusalem he utters his voice,
• and the heavens and the earth shake.
• But Yahweh is a refuge for his people,
  • and a protection for the children of Israel.
• 17 And you will know that I, Yahweh your God,
  • am dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain.
• And Jerusalem will be a place of holiness,
  • and strangers will pass through it no longer.
• 18 And it will happen on that day;
• the mountains will drip new wine,
  • and the hills will flow with milk,
  • and all the channels of Judah will flow with water.
• A spring from the house of Yahweh will come forth,
  • and it will water the valley of Acacia Trees.[fn]
• 19 Egypt will become a desolation,
  • and Edom will become a desolate desert ,[fn]
• because of the violence they did against the children of Judah,
  • in whose land they have shed innocent blood.
• 20 But Judah will be inhabited forever,
  • and Jerusalem for all generations .[fn]
• 21 I will cleanse their bloodguilt[fn] that I did not cleanse ,[fn]
  • for Yahweh is dwelling in Zion.