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Joel 3

Judgment against Enemy Nations

¹“At the time of those events,” says the Lord, “when I restore the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem,

²I will gather the armies of the world into the valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will judge them for harming my people, my special possession, for scattering my people among the nations, and for dividing up my land.

³They threw dice to decide which of my people would be their slaves. They traded boys to obtain prostitutes and sold girls for enough wine to get drunk.

⁴“What do you have against me, Tyre and Sidon and you cities of Philistia? Are you trying to take revenge on me? If you are, then watch out! I will strike swiftly and pay you back for everything you have done. ⁵You have taken my silver and gold and all my precious treasures, and have carried them off to your pagan temples. ⁶You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, so they could take them far from their homeland.

⁷“But I will bring them back from all the places to which you sold them, and I will pay you back for everything you have done. ⁸I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the people of Arabia, a nation far away. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

⁹Say to the nations far and wide: “Get ready for war! Call out your best warriors. Let all your fighting men advance for the attack.

¹⁰Hammer your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Train even your weaklings to be warriors.

¹¹Come quickly, all you nations everywhere. Gather together in the valley.” And now, O Lord, call out your warriors!

¹²“Let the nations be called to arms. Let them march to the valley of Jehoshaphat. There I, the Lord, will sit to pronounce judgment on them all.

¹³Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread the grapes, for the winepress is full. The storage vats are overflowing with the wickedness of these people.”

¹⁴Thousands upon thousands are waiting in the valley of decision. There the day of the Lord will soon arrive.

¹⁵The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine.

¹⁶The Lord’s voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth will shake. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a strong fortress for the people of Israel.

Blessings for God’s People

¹⁷“Then you will know that I, the Lord your God, live in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy forever, and foreign armies will never conquer her again.

¹⁸In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. Water will fill the streambeds of Judah, and a fountain will burst forth from the Lord’s Temple, watering the arid valley of acacias.

¹⁹But Egypt will become a wasteland and Edom will become a wilderness, because they attacked the people of Judah and killed innocent people in their land.

²⁰“But Judah will be filled with people forever, and Jerusalem will endure through all generations.

²¹I will pardon my people’s crimes, which I have not yet pardoned; and I, the Lord, will make my home in Jerusalem with my people.”

Joel 3 (NLT)

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Joel

Chapter 3

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