< Joel 3 >
1 For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
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 divided my land.
3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
4 Yes, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly [and] speedily I will return your recompense upon your own head;
5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things.
6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold to the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head:
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 hath spoken [it].
9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
10 Beat your plow-shares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I [am] strong.
11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together around: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
12 Let the heathen be awakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen on every side.
13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, go down; for the press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness [is] great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the LORD [is] near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
16 The LORD also will 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.
17 So shall ye 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.
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 from the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
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.
20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21 For I will cleanse their blood [that] I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.
