Yahweh’s Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat

• 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.
• Beat your cutting tools of iron into swords
  • and your pruning hooks into spears;
    • let the weakling say, ‘I am a mighty warrior!’
• Hurry and come,
  • all the nations, from all around,
    • and gather yourselves there.
• Bring down your mighty warriors, O Yahweh!
• 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.
• Send forth the sickle,
  • for the harvest is ripe!
    • Go tread,
• for the winepress is full!
  • The vats overflow,
    • because their evil is great!
• Commotion, commotion
  • in the valley of decision!
• For the day of Yahweh is near
  • in the valley of decision!
• The sun and the moon grow dark,
  • and the stars have withheld[fn] their splendor.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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]
• 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.
• But Judah will be inhabited forever,
  • and Jerusalem for all generations .[fn]
• I will cleanse their bloodguilt[fn] that I did not cleanse ,[fn]
  • for Yahweh is dwelling in Zion.