Joel 3

1 For in those days and in that time, when I let the fate of Judah and Jerusalem be changed,

For, behold, in those days and at that time, when I shall have turned the captivity of Juda and Jerusalem,

2 I will get together all the nations, and make them come down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and there I will take up with them the cause of my people and of my heritage Israel, whom they have sent wandering among the nations, and of my land which has been parted by them.

I will also gather all the Gentiles, and bring them down to the valley of Josaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and my heritage Israel, who have been dispersed among the Gentiles; and [these Gentiles] have divided my land,

3 And they have put the fate of my people to the decision of chance: giving a boy for the price of a loose woman and a girl for a drink of wine.

and cast lots over my people, and have given [their] boys to harlots, and sold [their] girls for wine, and have drunk.

4 And further, what are you to me, O Tyre and Zidon and all the circle of Philistia? will you give me back any payment? and if you do, quickly and suddenly I will send it back on your head,

And what have you to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all Galilee of the Gentiles? do you render me a recompense? or do you bear malice against me? quickly and speedily will I return your recompense on your own heads:

5 For you have taken my silver and my gold, putting in the houses of your gods my beautiful and pleasing things.

because you have taken my silver and my gold, and you have brought my choice ornaments into your temples;

6 And the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem you have given for a price to the sons of the Greeks, to send them far away from their land:

and you have sold the children of Juda and the children of Jerusalem to the children of the Greeks, that you might expel them from their coasts.

7 See, I will have them moved from the place where you have sent them, and will let what you have done come back on your head;

Therefore, behold, I [will] raise them up out of the place whither you have sold them, and I will return your recompense on your own heads.

8 I will give your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah for a price, and they will give them for a price to the men of Sheba, a nation far off: for the Lord has said it.

And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Juda, and they shall sell them into captivity to a far distant nation: for the Lord has spoken [it].

9 Give this out among the nations; make ready for war: get the strong men awake; let all the men of war come near, let them come up.

Proclaim these things among the Gentiles; declare war, arouse the warriors, draw near and go up, all you men of war.

10 Get your plough-blades hammered into swords, and your vine-knives into spears: let the feeble say, I am strong.

Beat your plowshares into swords, and your sickles into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

11 Come quickly, all you nations round about, and get yourselves together there: make your strong ones come down, O Lord.

Gather yourselves together, and go in, all you nations round about, and gather yourselves there; let the timid become a warrior.

12 Let the nations be awake, and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there I will be seated as judge of all the nations round about.

Let them be aroused, let all the nations go up to the valley of Josaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the Gentiles round about.

13 Put in the blade, for the grain is ready: come, get you down, for the wine-crusher is full, the vessels are overflowing; for great is their evil-doing.

Bring forth the sickles, for the vintage is come: go in, tread [the grapes], for the press is full: cause the vats to overflow; for their wickedness is multiplied.

14 Masses on masses in the valley of decision! for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

Noises have resounded in the valley of judgment: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of judgment.

15 The sun and the moon have become dark, and the stars keep back their shining.

The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their light.

16 And the Lord will be thundering from Zion, and his voice will be sounding from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will be shaking: but the Lord will be a breastplate for his people and a strong place for the children of Israel.

And the Lord shall cry out of Sion, and shall utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heaven and the earth shall be shaken, but the Lord shall spare his people, and shall strengthen the children of Israel.

17 And you will be certain that I am the Lord your God, living in Zion, my holy mountain: and Jerusalem will be holy, and no strange person will ever again go through her.

And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwell in Sion my holy mountain: and Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall not pass through her anymore.

18 And it will come about in that day that the mountains will be dropping sweet wine, and the hills will be flowing with milk, and all the streams of Judah will be flowing with water; and a fountain will come out from the house of the Lord, watering the valley of acacia-trees.

And it shall come to pass in that day [that] the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the fountains of Juda shall flow with water, and a fountain shall go forth of the house of the Lord, and water the valley of flags.

19 Egypt will be a waste and Edom a land of destruction, because of the evil done to the children of Judah, because they have let blood be drained out in their land without cause.

Egypt shall be a desolation, and Idumea shall be a desolate plain, because of the wrongs of the children of Juda, because they have shed righteous blood in their land.

20 But Judah will be peopled for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

But Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to all generations.

21 And I will send punishment for their blood, for which punishment has not been sent, for the Lord is living in Zion.

And I will make inquisition for their blood, and will by no means leave it unavenged: and the Lord shall dwell in Sion.