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.

Behold, in those days and at that time, when I return the exiles 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 gather all the nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. I will judge them there, because of my people and my inheritance Israel, whom they scattered among the nations, and because they divided up 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 cast lots for my people, traded a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine so they could drink.

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.

Now, why are you angry at me, Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of Philistia? Will you repay me? Even if you do repay me, I will immediately return your retribution on your own head.

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

For you took my silver and my gold, and you brought my precious treasures into your temples.

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 sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, in order to remove them far from their territory.

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.

Look, I am about to stir them up, out of the place where you sold them, and will return payment on 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, by the hand of the people of Judah. They will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far off, for Yahweh 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, “Prepare yourselves for war, rouse the mighty men, let them come near, let all the men of battle come 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 plowshares into swords and your pruning knives into spears. Let the weak say, 'I 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]!

Hurry and come, all you nearby nations, gather yourselves together there. Yahweh, bring down your mighty 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 wake themselves up 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. Come, crush the grapes, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is enormous.”

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

There is a tumult, a tumult in the Valley of Judgment. For the day of Yahweh is near in the Valley of Judgment.

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

The sun and the moon become dark, the stars keep back their brightness.

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.

Yahweh will roar from Zion, and raise his voice from Jerusalem. The heavens and earth will shake, but Yahweh will be a shelter for his people, and a fortress for 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.

“So you will know that I am Yahweh your God who lives in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no army will march through her again.

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].

It will come about on that day that the mountains will drip with sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with water, and a fountain will come from the house of Yahweh and 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 an abandoned devastation, and Edom will become an abandoned 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.

But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem will be inhabited 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 that I have not yet avenged, for Yahweh lives in Zion.”