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Eternal One: Know that in those days and at that time
        I will bring back Judah and Jerusalem from their captivity.
    I will assemble all Israel’s enemies in the valley of Jehoshaphat—My judgment.
        I will judge them for how they treated My people, My legacy, Israel—
    Whom they deported and exiled to the nations.
        They divided My land among themselves;
    They cast lots for My people, selling them into slavery—
        trading boys for prostitutes, selling young girls for a drink of wine.
    Tyre, Sidon, and all the districts of Philistia, what do you have against Me?
        Are you trying to get back at Me?
    Do you pay me back?
        I will turn your wicked actions back upon your heads, fast and sure.
    You have taken wonderful treasures from My house, My silver and gold,
        and you carried them to your own temples and palaces.
    You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks
        to send them far away from their home without hope of return.
    But now, watch! I am going to awaken them to action,
        and in those distant lands where you sold them
    I will turn your wicked actions back upon your heads:
    I will sell your sons and daughters into slavery.
        Now the people of Judah will be your children’s masters.
    Indeed, they will sell your children to the Sabeans,
        who will take them far, far away.

The Eternal One has spoken.

Proclaim this among the nations: “Get ready for war.
    Awaken your great warriors.
Let all the soldiers come near the valley, poised for battle.
10 Hammer your sickles into swords.
    Forge your pruning shears into spears.
For this final battle, even the weakling must say, ‘I am a warrior!’

11 “Hurry up! Join the battle, you nations all around;
    gather in the valley of Jehoshaphat.”
Eternal One, march Your troops to war.

12 Eternal One: Let the nations awaken
        and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
    For that is where I will come Myself and set forth judgment against
        the nations who surrounded and attacked My Israel.

13 Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe for judgment.
    Come on and tread the grapes, for the winepress is full.
Indeed, the vats are overflowing with oil, for their evil is great.

14 The thunder of battle goes up in the valley of decision,
    and the day of the Eternal One is near that valley.
15 It is time. The sun and moon have become a void of darkness;
    the stars, too, lose their radiance.
16 The Eternal roars from Zion;
    His voice thunders from Jerusalem.
The earth and the heavens tremble before Him.
    But the Eternal is a hiding place for His people,
    a fortress for the Israelites.

17 Eternal One: Then you will know that I am the Eternal, your God,
        and I live in Zion, My sacred mountain.
    Jerusalem will be My holy city;
        never again will foreign invaders infiltrate it.

18 On that great day, the Eternal will provide:
    Sweet wine will drip down from the mountains.
Fresh milk will pour down from the hills.
    Clear water will run through Judah’s ravines.
A fountain will bubble up from the Eternal’s temple
    and water the arid stream bed of Shittim.
19 Egypt will become a wasteland and Edom a lonely desert,
    because they violently attacked the people of Judah
And murdered the innocent in Israel.
20 But as for Judah, it will always be full of people.

Eternal One: Jerusalem, too, will endure for generations to come.
21     I will avenge those who were hurt, enslaved, exiled, and killed;
        I will not let the guilty go free.

For the Eternal One lives in Zion.

Judgment against Enemy Nations

[a]“At the time of those events,” says the Lord,
    “when I restore the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem,
I will gather the armies of the world
    into the valley of Jehoshaphat.[b]
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.
They threw dice[c] 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.

“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. You have taken my silver and gold and all my precious treasures, and have carried them off to your pagan temples. You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks,[d] so they could take them far from their homeland.

“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. I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the people of Arabia,[e] a nation far away. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Say to the nations far and wide:
    “Get ready for war!
Call out your best warriors.
    Let all your fighting men advance for the attack.
10 Hammer your plowshares into swords
    and your pruning hooks into spears.
    Train even your weaklings to be warriors.
11 Come 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.
13 Swing the sickle,
    for the harvest is ripe.[f]
Come, tread the grapes,
    for the winepress is full.
The storage vats are overflowing
    with the wickedness of these people.”

14 Thousands upon thousands are waiting in the valley of decision.
    There the day of the Lord will soon arrive.
15 The sun and moon will grow dark,
    and the stars will no longer shine.
16 The 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.
18 In 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.[g]
19 But 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.
21 I will pardon my people’s crimes,
    which I have not yet pardoned;
and I, the Lord, will make my home
    in Jerusalem[h] with my people.”

Footnotes

  1. 3:1 Verses 3:1-21 are numbered 4:1-21 in Hebrew text.
  2. 3:2 Jehoshaphat means “the Lord judges.”
  3. 3:3 Hebrew They cast lots.
  4. 3:6 Hebrew to the peoples of Javan.
  5. 3:8 Hebrew to the Sabeans.
  6. 3:13 Greek version reads for the harvest time has come. Compare Mark 4:29.
  7. 3:18 Hebrew valley of Shittim.
  8. 3:21 Hebrew Zion.