Joel 3

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

For behold in those days, and in that time when I shall bring back the captivity of Juda and Jerusalem:

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 together all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Josaphat: and I will plead with them there for my people, and for my inheritance Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and have parted 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.

And they have cast lots upon my people: and the boy they have put in the stews, and the girl they have sold for wine, that they might 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,

But what have you to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the coast of the Philistines? will you revenge yourselves on me? and if you revenge yourselves on me, I will very soon return you a recompense upon your own head.

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

For you have taken away my silver and my gold: and my desirable and most beautiful things you have carried into 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:

And the children of Juda, and the children of Jerusalem you have sold to the children of the Greeks, that you might remove them far off from their own country.

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 raise them up out of the place wherein you have sold them: and I will return your recompense upon your own 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.

And I will sell your sons, and your daughters by the hands of the children of Juda, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far off, for the Lord hath spoken it.

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 ye this among the nations: prepare war, rouse up the strong: let them come, let all the men of war come up.

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

Cut your ploughshares into swords, and your spades 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.

Break forth, and come, all ye nations, from round about, and gather yourselves together: there will the Lord cause all thy strong ones to fall down.

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 them arise, and let the nations come up into the valley of Josaphat: for there I will sit to judge all nations round about.

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.

Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe: come and go down, for the press is full, the fats run over: for their wickedness is multiplied.

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

Nations, nations in the valley of destruction: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of destruction.

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

The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining.

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.

And the Lord shall roar out of Sion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth shall be moved, and the Lord shall be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children 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.

And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Sion my holy mountain: and Jerusalem shall be holy and strangers shall pass through it no more.

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 it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk: and waters shall flow through all the rivers of Juda: and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the torrent of thorns.

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 shall be a desolation, and Edom a wilderness destroyed: because they have done unjustly against the children of Juda, and have shed innocent blood in their land.

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

And Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to generation and generation.

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

And I will cleanse their blood which I had not cleansed: and the Lord will dwell in Sion.