Joel 3:16-21

3:16 The Lord roars from Zion;

from Jerusalem ¹  his voice bellows out. ² 

The heavens ³  and the earth shake.

But the Lord is a refuge for his people;

he is a stronghold for the citizens ⁴  of Israel.

The Lord’s Presence in Zion

3:17 You will be convinced ⁵  that I the Lord am your God,

dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain.

Jerusalem ⁶  will be holy –

conquering armies ⁷  will no longer pass through it.

3:18 On that day ⁸  the mountains will drip with sweet wine, ⁹ 

and the hills will flow with milk. ¹⁰ 

All the dry stream beds ¹¹  of Judah will flow with water.

A spring will flow out from the temple ¹²  of the Lord,

watering the Valley of Acacia Trees. ¹³ 

3:19 Egypt will be desolate

and Edom will be a desolate wilderness,

because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, ¹⁴ 

in whose land they shed innocent blood.

3:20 But Judah will reside securely forever,

and Jerusalem will be secure ¹⁵  from one generation to the next.

3:21 I will avenge ¹⁶  their blood which I had not previously acquitted.

It is the Lord who dwells in Zion!

[3:16]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:16]  ² tn Heb “he sounds forth his voice.”

[3:16]  ³ tn Or “the sky.” See the note on “sky” in 2:30.

[3:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “sons.”

[3:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “know.”

[3:17]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “strangers” or “foreigners.” In context, this refers to invasions by conquering armies.

[3:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “and it will come about in that day.”

[3:18]  ⁹ tn Many English translations read “new wine” or “sweet wine,” meaning unfermented wine, i.e., grape juice.

[3:18]  ¹⁰ sn The language used here is a hyperbolic way of describing both a bountiful grape harvest (“the mountains will drip with juice”) and an abundance of cattle (“the hills will flow with milk”). In addition to being hyperbolic, the language is also metonymical (effect for cause).

[3:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “seasonal streams.”

[3:18]  ¹² tn Heb “house.”

[3:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “valley of Shittim.” The exact location of the Valley of Acacia Trees is uncertain. The Hebrew word שִׁטִּים (shittim) refers to a place where the acacia trees grow, which would be a very arid and dry place. The acacia tree can survive in such locations, whereas most other trees require more advantageous conditions. Joel’s point is that the stream that has been mentioned will proceed to the most dry and barren of locations in the vicinity of Jerusalem.

[3:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “violence of the sons of Judah.” The phrase “of the sons of Judah” is an objective genitive (cf. KJV “the violence against the children of Judah”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “violence done to the people of Judah”). It refers to injustices committed against the Judeans, not violence that the Judeans themselves had committed against others.

[3:20]  ¹⁵ tn The phrase “will be secure” does not appear in the Hebrew, but are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.

[3:21]  ¹⁶ tc The present translation follows the reading וְנִקַּמְתִּי (vÿniqqamti, “I will avenge”) rather than וְנִקֵּתִי (vÿniqqeti, “I will acquit”) of the MT.