< Joel 3 >
1 For beholde, in those dayes and in that time, when I shall bring againe the captiuitie of Iudah and Ierusalem,
2 I will also gather all nations, and wil bring them downe into the valley of Iehoshaphat, and will pleade with them there for my people, and for mine heritage Israel, whom they haue scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
3 And they haue cast lottes for my people, and haue giuen the childe for the harlot, and sold the girle for wine, that they might drinke.
4 Yea, and what haue you to do with me, O Tyrus and Zidon and all the costes of Palestina? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompence mee, swiftly and speedily will I render your recompence vpon your head:
5 For ye haue taken my siluer and my golde, and haue caried into your temples my goodly and pleasant things.
6 The children also of Iudah and the children of Ierusalem haue you solde vnto the Grecians, that ye might send them farre from their border.
7 Beholde, I will rayse them out of the place where ye haue sold them, and will render your reward vpon your owne head,
8 And I will send your sonnes and your daughters into the hande of the children of Iudah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people farre off: for the Lord hath spoken it.
9 Publish this among the Gentiles: prepare warre, wake vp the mightie men: let all the men of warre drawe neere and come vp.
10 Breake your plowshares into swords, and your sithes into speares: let the weake say, I am strong.
11 Assemble your selues, and come all yee heathen and gather your selues together round about: there shall the Lord cast downe the mightie men.
12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come vp to the valley of Iehoshaphat: for there will I sit to iudge all the heathen round about.
13 Put in your sithes, for the haruest is ripe: come, get you downe, for the winepresse is full: yea, the winepresses runne ouer, for their wickednesse is great.
14 O multitude, O multitude, come into the valley of threshing: for the day of the Lord is neere in the valley of threshing.
15 The sunne and moone shalbe darkened, and the starres shall withdrawe their light.
16 The Lord also shall roare out of Zion, and vtter his voyce from Ierusalem, and the heauens and the earth shall shake, but the Lord wil be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
17 So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, mine holy Mountaine: then shall Ierusalem bee holy, and there shall no strangers go thorowe her any more.
18 And in that day shall the mountaines drop downe newe wine, and the hilles shall flowe with milke, and al the riuers of Iudah shall runne with waters, and a fountaine shall come forth of the House of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
19 Egypt shalbe waste, and Edom shall be a desolate wildernesse, for the iniuries of the childre of Iudah, because they haue shed innocent blood in their land.
20 But Iudah shall dwell for euer, and Ierusalem from generation to generation.
21 For I will clense their blood, that I haue not clensed, and the Lord will dwell in Zion.