Joel 3 AMPC

1. FOR BEHOLD, in those days and at that time when I shall reverse the captivity and restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

2. I will gather all nations and will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and there will I deal with and execute judgment upon them for [their treatment of] My people and of My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and [because] they have divided My land.

3. And they have cast lots for My people, and have given a boy for a harlot and have sold a girl for juice [of the grape] and have drunk it.

4. Yes, and what are you to Me, O Tyre and Sidon and all the [five small] divisions of Philistia? Will you pay Me back for something? Even if you pay Me back, swiftly and speedily I will return your deed [of retaliation] upon your own head, [Isa. 23; Ezek. 26:1-18; Amos 1:6-10; Zeph. 2:4-7; Zech. 9:2-7.]

5. Because you have taken My silver and My gold and have carried into your temples and palaces My precious treasures,

6. And have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Grecians, that you may remove them far from their border.

7. Behold, I will stir them up out of the place to which you have sold them and will return your deed [of retaliation] upon your own head.

8. I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far off, for the Lord has spoken it. [Isa. 14:2; 60:14.]

9. Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare war! Stir up the mighty men! Let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.

10. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong [a warrior]! [Isa. 2:4; Mic. 4:3.]

11. Hasten and come, all you nations round about, and assemble yourselves; there You, O Lord, will bring down Your mighty ones (Your warriors).

12. Let the nations bestir themselves and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about.

13. Put in the sickle, for the [vintage] harvest is ripe; come, get down and tread the grapes, for the winepress is full; the vats overflow, for the wickedness [of the peoples] is great. [Mark 4:29; Rev. 14:15, 18-20.]

14. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. [Zech. 14:1-9.]

15. The sun and the moon are darkened and the stars withdraw their shining.

16. The Lord will thunder and roar from Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be a refuge for His people and a stronghold to the children of Israel. [Amos 9:11-15; Mic. 4:1-3; 5:2; Zeph. 3:13-20; Zech. 6:12, 13; 12:8, 9.]

17. So shall you know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. Then shall Jerusalem be holy, and strangers and foreigners [not born into the family of God] shall no more pass through it.

18. And in that day, the mountains shall drip with fresh juice [of the grape] and the hills shall flow with milk; and all the brooks and riverbeds of Judah shall flow with water, and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and shall water the Valley of Shittim. [Ezek. 47:1-12; Amos 9:13; Zech. 14:8.]

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

20. But Judah shall remain and be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21. And I will cleanse and hold as innocent their blood and avenge it, blood which I have not cleansed, held innocent, and avenged, for the Lord dwells in Zion.