Joel
3
- 'In those days and at that time, when I
restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
- I will gather all nations and bring them
down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against
them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people
among the nations and divided up my land.
- They cast lots for my people and traded
boys for prostitutes; they sold girls for wine that they might drink.
- 'Now what have you against me, O Tyre and
Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something
I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return
on your own heads what you have done.
- For you took my silver and my gold and carried
off my finest treasures to your temples.
- You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem
to the Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland.
- 'See, I am going to rouse them out of the
places to which you sold them, and I will return on your own heads what you
have done.
- I will sell your sons and daughters to the
people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.'
The LORD has spoken.
- Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare
for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
- Beat your plowshares into swords and your
pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, 'I am strong !'
- Come quickly, all you nations from every
side, and assemble there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD !
- 'Let the nations be roused; let them advance
into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations
on every side.
- Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow
-- so great is their wickedness !'
- Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of
decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
- The sun and moon will be darkened, and the
stars no longer shine.
- The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder
from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a
refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.
- 'Then you will know that I, the LORD your
God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy; never again will
foreigners invade her.
- 'In that day the mountains will drip new
wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run
with water. A fountain will flow out of the LORD'S house and will water the
valley of acacias.
- But Egypt will be desolate, Edom a desert
waste, because of violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they
shed innocent blood.
- Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem
through all generations.
- Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned,
I will pardon.' The LORD dwells in Zion !
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