Joel 3:1-13

The Lord Plans to Judge the Nations

3:1 (4:1) For look! In those days and at that time

I will return the exiles to Judah and Jerusalem.

3:2 Then I will gather all the nations,

and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.

I will enter into judgment against them there

concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance,

whom they scattered among the nations.

They partitioned my land,

3:3 and they cast lots for my people.

They traded a boy for a prostitute;

they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink.

3:4 Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon?

Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia?

I will very quickly repay you for what you have done!

3:5 For you took my silver and my gold

and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces.

3:6 You sold Judeans and Jerusalemites to the Greeks,

removing them far from their own country.

3:7 Look! I am rousing them from that place to which you sold them.

I will repay you for what you have done!

3:8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah.

They will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.

Indeed, the Lord has spoken!

Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat

3:9 Proclaim this among the nations:

“Prepare for a holy war!

Call out the warriors!

Let all these fighting men approach and attack!

3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords,

and your pruning hooks into spears!

Let the weak say, ‘I too am a warrior!’

3:11 Lend your aid and come,

all you surrounding nations,

and gather yourselves to that place.”

Bring down, O Lord, your warriors!

3:12 Let the nations be roused and let them go up

to the valley of Jehoshaphat,

for there I will sit in judgment on all the surrounding nations.

3:13 Rush forth with the sickle, for the harvest is ripe!

Come, stomp the grapes, for the winepress is full!

The vats overflow.

Indeed, their evil is great!