The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Joel 03
1 “For, behold, in those days,
and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah
and Jerusalem,
2 I will gather all nations,
and will bring them down into the
valley of Jehoshaphat;
and I will execute judgment on them
there for my people,
and for my heritage, Israel, whom
they have scattered among the nations.
They have divided my land,
3 and have cast lots for my people,
and have given a boy for a prostitute,
and sold a girl for wine, that they may
drink.
4 “Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre and
Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia?
Will you repay me? And if you repay me,
I will swiftly and speedily return your
repayment on your own head.
5 Because you have taken my silver and my
gold, and have carried my finest treasures
into your temples, 6 and have sold the children of Judah
and the children of Jerusalem to the
sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from
their border.
7 Behold, I will stir them up out of the place
where you have sold them, and will
return your repayment on
your own head;
8 and I will sell your sons and your
daughters into the hands of the children of
Judah, and they will sell them to the men of
Sheba, to a faraway nation,
for Yahweh has spoken it.”
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
“Prepare for war!
Stir up the mighty men.
Let all the warriors draw near.
Let them come up.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords,
and your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’
11 Hurry and come, all you surrounding
nations, and gather yourselves together.”
Cause your mighty ones to come down
there, Yahweh.
12 “Let the nations arouse themselves,
and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat;
for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
13 Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe.
Come, tread, for the wine press is full,
the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.”
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of
decision! For the day of Yahweh is near in the
valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
16 Yahweh will roar from Zion,
and thunder from Jerusalem;
and the heavens and the earth will
shake; but Yahweh will be a refuge to his
people, and a stronghold to the children of
Israel.
17 “So you will know that I am Yahweh,
your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain.
Then Jerusalem will be holy,
and no strangers will pass through her
any more.
18 It will happen in that day,
that the mountains will drop down
sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk,
all the brooks of Judah will flow with
waters; and a fountain will flow out from Yahweh’s house,
and will water the valley of Shittim.
19 Egypt will be a desolation
and Edom will be a desolate wilderness,
for the violence done to the children of
Judah, because they have shed innocent
blood in their land.
20 But Judah will be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21 I will cleanse their blood
that I have not cleansed,
for Yahweh dwells in Zion.”