Joel 3

1 For behold in those days, and in that time when I shall bring back the captivity of Juda and Jerusalem:

For, in those days and in that time, when I bring back again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will gather together all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Josaphat: and I will plead with them there for my people, and for my inheritance Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and have parted my land.

I will also gather all the nations and bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and there I will enter into judgment with them for my people and my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and divided my land.

3 And they have cast lots upon my people: and the boy they have put in the stews, and the girl they have sold for wine, that they might drink.

They have cast lots for my people. They have traded boys for prostitutes, and sold girls for wine, and drunk it.

4 But what have you to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the coast of the Philistines? will you revenge yourselves on me? and if you revenge yourselves on me, I will very soon return you a recompense upon your own head.

What are you to me, Tyre and Sidon and all the districts of Philistia? Were you repaying any deed of mine, or were you doing something for me? Quickly will I return your deed upon your heads.

5 For you have taken away my silver and my gold: and my desirable and most beautiful things you have carried into your temples.

You who have taken my silver and my gold, and you have brought my goodly jewels into your palaces,

6 And the children of Juda, and the children of Jerusalem you have sold to the children of the Greeks, that you might remove them far off from their own country.

you have sold the people of Judah and of Jerusalem to the Greeks, so that you might remove them far from their own borders.

7 Behold, I will raise them up out of the place wherein you have sold them: and I will return your recompense upon your own heads.

I am about to stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will turn your deeds upon your own head.

8 And I will sell your sons, and your daughters by the hands of the children of Juda, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far off, for the Lord hath spoken it.

I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far off, for the Lord has spoken.

9 Proclaim ye this among the nations: prepare war, rouse up the strong: let them come, let all the men of war come up.

Proclaim this among the nations, sanctify war. Arouse the warriors, let all the fighting men muster and go up.

10 Cut your ploughshares into swords, and your spades into spears. Let the weak say: I am strong.

Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into lances; let the weak say, I, indeed, am strong.

11 Break forth, and come, all ye nations, from round about, and gather yourselves together: there will the Lord cause all thy strong ones to fall down.

Bestir yourselves and come, all you nations round about. Quickly gather yourselves together, ask the Lord to bring his warriors.

12 Let them arise, and let the nations come up into the valley of Josaphat: for there I will sit to judge all nations round about.

Let the nations rouse themselves and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

13 Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe: come and go down, for the press is full, the fats run over: for their wickedness is multiplied.

Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; go in, tread, for the wine press is full. The vats overflow, for great is their wickedness.

14 Nations, nations in the valley of destruction: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of destruction.

Noisy multitudes, noisy multitudes in the valley of decision. For near is the Lord’s day in the valley of decision!

15 The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining.

Sun and moon have turned dark, and the stars withdrawn their shining.

16 And the Lord shall roar out of Sion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth shall be moved, and the Lord shall be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

Whenever the Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem, earth and sky quake; but the Lord is a refuge to his people, and a fortress to the people of Israel.

17 And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Sion my holy mountain: and Jerusalem shall be holy and strangers shall pass through it no more.

And you will know that I am the Lord your God, I who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain, and Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will not pass through her any more.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk: and waters shall flow through all the rivers of Juda: and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the torrent of thorns.

In that day, the mountains will drop sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the channels of Judah will flow with water, a fountain will spring from the house of Judah, and will water the Valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a wilderness destroyed: because they have done unjustly against the children of Juda, and have shed innocent blood in their land.

Egypt will become a desolation, and Edom a wilderness, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, because they shed innocent blood in their land,

20 And Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to generation and generation.

Judah will remain inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 And I will cleanse their blood which I had not cleansed: and the Lord will dwell in Sion.

I will avenge their blood which I have not yet avenged. The Lord lives in Zion!