Joel 3

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

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

2 [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

I will also gather all the nations and bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and there I will enter into judgment with them for my people and my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and divided my land.

3 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.

They have cast lots for my people. They have traded boys for prostitutes, and sold girls for wine, and drunk it.

4 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.

What are you to me, Tyre and Sidon and all the districts of Philistia? Were you repaying any deed of mine, or were you doing something for me? Quickly will I return your deed upon your heads.

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

You who have taken my silver and my gold, and you have brought my goodly jewels into your palaces,

6 [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.

you have sold the people of Judah and of Jerusalem to the Greeks, so that you might remove them far from their own borders.

7 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.

I am about to stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will turn your deeds upon your own head.

8 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.”

I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far off, for the Lord has spoken.

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

Proclaim this among the nations, sanctify war. Arouse the warriors, let all the fighting men muster and go up.

10 [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.

Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into lances; let the weak say, I, indeed, am strong.

11 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]!

Bestir yourselves and come, all you nations round about. Quickly gather yourselves together, ask the Lord to bring his warriors.

12 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.

Let the nations rouse themselves and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

13 [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.

Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; go in, tread, for the wine press is full. The vats overflow, for great is their wickedness.

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

Noisy multitudes, noisy multitudes in the valley of decision. For near is the Lord’s day in the valley of decision!

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

Sun and moon have turned dark, and the stars withdrawn their shining.

16 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.

Whenever the Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem, earth and sky quake; but the Lord is a refuge to his people, and a fortress to the people of Israel.

17 [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.

And you will know that I am the Lord your God, I who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain, and Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will not pass through her any more.

18 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].

In that day, the mountains will drop sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the channels of Judah will flow with water, a fountain will spring from the house of Judah, and will water the Valley of Shittim.

19 [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,

Egypt will become a desolation, and Edom a wilderness, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, because they shed innocent blood in their land,

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

Judah will remain inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 [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].”

I will avenge their blood which I have not yet avenged. The Lord lives in Zion!