Joel 3

1 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

[Yahweh says this]: “At that time [DOU], I will enable [the people of] Jerusalem and [other places in] Judah to prosper again.

2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

[Then] in the Valley of Judgment I will gather together [the people of] all the [other] nations; I will judge [and punish] them because they scattered my Israeli people and forced them to go to other countries. They divided up my land

3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

and they (threw marked stones/cast lots) to determine who would get [each of] my people. Then they sold [some of] the Israeli boys and girls [to get money to pay] for prostitutes and wine to drink.

4 Yea, and what have all of you to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will all of you render me a recompence? and if all of you recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;

You [people of] [APO] Tyre and Sidon [cities] and [you people of] the Philistia [region], I certainly have not [RHQ] done anything to harm you! [So] if you are trying to get revenge on me, I will very quickly get revenge on you.

5 Because all of you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

You have taken the silver and gold and [other] things from my temple and put them in your temples.

6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have all of you sold unto the Grecians, that all of you might remove them far from their border.

[You dragged away] the people of Jerusalem and [other places in] Judah, and you took them far away and sold them to people in Greece.

7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place where all of you have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:

But I will cause my people to want to return from the places to which you sold them, and I will do to you what you did to them.

8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD has spoken it.

Then I will cause [some of] your sons and your daughters to be sold to the people of Judah! And [some of] them will be sold to the Sabea people-group, who live far away. [That will certainly happen because I], Yahweh, have said it.”

9 Proclaim all of you this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:

Proclaim to the [people of all] nations, “Prepare for a war! Summon your soldiers, and tell them to stand in their battle positions.

10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

[Take] your plows and make swords from them, and [take] your pruning knives and make spears from them. [Even] the weak people must [also] be like [MET] [strong] soldiers.

11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all you heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause your mighty ones to come down, O LORD.

All you [people from the] nations that are near [Judah] must come quickly and gather [in the Valley of Judgment].” But Yahweh, [when that happens], send your army [of angels to attack them]!

12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.

The [people in] the nations near [Judah] must get ready and come to the Valley of Judgment. There Yahweh will sit and judge [and punish] them.

13 Put all of you in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the wine-vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

[They are like] [MET] crops that are ready to be harvested; so [strike them like] [MET] [a farmer] swings his sickle to cut the grain. They are like [MET] grapes that are piled high in the pits where they will be pressed; because they are very wicked, [punish them severely] [MET] now, like [MET] [a farmer] tramples on the grapes until the pits are full of juice.

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

[There will be] huge crowds of people in that Valley of Judgment. It will soon be the time that Yahweh [will punish them].

15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

[At that time] there will be no light from the sun or moon, and the stars will not shine.

16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

From Zion [Hill] in Jerusalem Yahweh will shout, and his voice will be like thunder, and his voice will cause the sky and the earth to shake. But Yahweh will protect [MET] his people; he will be like [MET] a strong wall behind which the people of Israel will be protected.

17 So shall all of you know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

[Yahweh says], “At that time, you Israeli people will know that I am Yahweh, your God. I live on Zion, my sacred hill. Jerusalem will be a sacred [city], and [soldiers from] other countries will never conquer it again.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

At that time, there will be vineyards covering [MTY] the hills, and [your cattle and goats on] those hills will produce plenty of milk. The streams in Judah will never dry up. And a stream will flow from my temple into the Acacia Valley [northeast of the Dead Sea].

19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

[The armies of] Egypt and Edom attacked the people of Judah and killed [MTY] many people who had not done anything that was wrong. So [now] those countries will become deserts,

20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

but there will always be people living in Jerusalem and [in other places] in Judea.

21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwells in Zion.

[I], Yahweh, live on Zion [Hill in Jerusalem], and I will get revenge on the people [of Egypt and Edom] who killed [MTY] [many of my people].”