Joel Chapter 3

Joel 2:28-32

Judgment Against Enemy Nations

¹ “When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, ² I’ll gather the nations to the Valley of Jehoshaphat and condemn them there on behalf of Israel, my permanent possession, my people. They scattered them among the nations, divided up my land, ³ cast lots for my people, traded a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine to get drunk on.

⁴ “What are you to me, Tyre, Sidon, Philistia? You think you’re going to pay me back? If you try, I’ll return it on your head swift and soon. ⁵ You’ve stolen my silver and gold, taken my precious treasures into your temples, ⁶ and sold Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks to remove them far away. ⁷ So I’m going to raise them up from where you sold them and pay you back on your own head. ⁸ I’ll sell your sons and daughters to Judah to sell to the Sabeans far away.

I, the LORD, have spoken.”                Joel 3:1-8

⁹ Declare this among the nations:

      “Prepare for war; rouse the powerful;

      let the fighting men advance and engage.

¹⁰ Beat your plowshares into swords,

            your pruning hooks into spears;

      have even the weak say, ‘I’m a soldier now.’

¹¹ Come quickly, nations everywhere;

      gather there.”

LORD, bring out your soldiers!

¹² “Let the nations muster to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;

that’s where I’ll pronounce judgment on them all.   

Joel 3:9-12

¹³ Use the sickle; the harvest is ripe.

      Come and tread; the winepress is full;

      the vats are overflowing with those people’s sinfulness.”

¹⁴ Thousands upon thousands in the valley of decision!

      The day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision!

¹⁵ The sun and moon will grow dark;

      the stars will quit shining.

¹⁶ The LORD will roar out of Zion;

            he’ll thunder from Jerusalem.

      Earth and sky will reverberate;

            the LORD will be his people’s refuge,

            a strong fortress for the sons of Israel.

¹⁷ Then you’ll know I’m the LORD your God,

      who lives on Zion, my holy mountain.

So Jerusalem will be holy;

      foreigners will never overrun it again.                

Joel 3:13-17

Blessings for God’s People

¹⁸ “At that time, the mountains will drip with sweet wine;

      the hills will flow with milk.

Water will run down the wadis in Judah;

      a spring will gush out of the LORD’s Temple

            and water the Valley of Shittim.

¹⁹ Egypt will be a wasteland

      and Edom a desert

            because of their violence against Judah

            and the murder of its innocent people.

²⁰ But people will live in Judah forever,

      in Jerusalem for all generations.

²¹ I’ll avenge their blood that I haven’t already avenged

      and make my home with them in Zion.”

Joel 3:18-21

Version by Virgil Warren: christir.org