Joel 3

1 For in those days and in that time, when I let the fate of Judah and Jerusalem be changed,

“Yes, in those days and at that time, when I restore Judah and Jerusalem from captivity,

2 I will get together all the nations, and make them come down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and there I will take up with them the cause of my people and of my heritage Israel, whom they have sent wandering among the nations, and of my land which has been parted by them.

I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning My people, My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations as they divided up My land.

3 And they have put the fate of my people to the decision of chance: giving a boy for the price of a loose woman and a girl for a drink of wine.

They cast lots for My people; they bartered a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine to drink.

4 And further, what are you to me, O Tyre and Zidon and all the circle of Philistia? will you give me back any payment? and if you do, quickly and suddenly I will send it back on your head,

Now what do you have against Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering against Me a recompense? If you retaliate against Me, I will swiftly and speedily return your recompense upon your heads.

5 For you have taken my silver and my gold, putting in the houses of your gods my beautiful and pleasing things.

For you took My silver and gold and carried off My finest treasures to your temples.

6 And the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem you have given for a price to the sons of the Greeks, to send them far away from their land:

You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, to send them far from their homeland.

7 See, I will have them moved from the place where you have sent them, and will let what you have done come back on your head;

Behold, I will rouse them from the places to which you sold them; I will return your recompense upon your heads.

8 I will give your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah for a price, and they will give them for a price to the men of Sheba, a nation far off: for the Lord has said it.

I will sell your sons and daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans—to a distant nation.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.

9 Give this out among the nations; make ready for war: get the strong men awake; let all the men of war come near, let them come up.

Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war; rouse the mighty men; let all the men of war advance and attack!

10 Get your plough-blades hammered into swords, and your vine-knives into spears: let the feeble say, I am strong.

Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’

11 Come quickly, all you nations round about, and get yourselves together there: make your strong ones come down, O Lord.

Come quickly, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves. Bring down Your mighty ones, O LORD.

12 Let the nations be awake, and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there I will be seated as judge of all the nations round about.

Let the nations be roused and advance to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit down to judge all the nations on every side.

13 Put in the blade, for the grain is ready: come, get you down, for the wine-crusher is full, the vessels are overflowing; for great is their evil-doing.

Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because their wickedness is great.

14 Masses on masses in the valley of decision! for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the Day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

15 The sun and the moon have become dark, and the stars keep back their shining.

The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine.

16 And the Lord will be thundering from Zion, and his voice will be sounding from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will be shaking: but the Lord will be a breastplate for his people and a strong place for the children of Israel.

The LORD will roar from Zion and raise His voice from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.

17 And you will be certain that I am the Lord your God, living in Zion, my holy mountain: and Jerusalem will be holy, and no strange person will ever again go through her.

Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, never again to be overrun by foreigners.

18 And it will come about in that day that the mountains will be dropping sweet wine, and the hills will be flowing with milk, and all the streams of Judah will be flowing with water; and a fountain will come out from the house of the Lord, watering the valley of acacia-trees.

And in that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the streams of Judah will run with water, and a spring will flow from the house of the LORD to water the Valley of Acacias.

19 Egypt will be a waste and Edom a land of destruction, because of the evil done to the children of Judah, because they have let blood be drained out in their land without cause.

Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.

20 But Judah will be peopled for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 And I will send punishment for their blood, for which punishment has not been sent, for the Lord is living in Zion.

For I will avenge their blood, which I have not yet avenged.”