Joel 3

English Standard Version

The Lord Judges the Nations

3 ^[a] “For behold, ^(A)in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, ²^(B)I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And ^(C)I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, ³and ^(D)have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.

⁴“What are you to me, ^(E)O Tyre and Sidon, and all ^(F)the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, ^(G)I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. ⁵For ^(H)you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.^[b] ⁶You have sold ^(I)the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. ⁷Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and ^(J)I will return your payment on your own head. ⁸I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the ^(K)Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”

⁹Proclaim this among the nations:
^(L)Consecrate for war;^[c]
    stir up the mighty men.
Let all the men of war draw near;
    let them come up.
¹⁰^(M)Beat your plowshares into swords,
    and ^(N)your pruning hooks into spears;
    let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”

¹¹^(O)Hasten and come,
    all you surrounding nations,
    and gather yourselves there.
^(P)Bring down your warriors, O Lord.
¹²Let the nations stir themselves up
    and come up to ^(Q)the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
^(R)for there I will sit to judge
    all the surrounding nations.

¹³^(S)Put in the sickle,
    ^(T)for the harvest is ripe.
^(U)Go in, tread,
    ^(V)for the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
    for their evil is great.

¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes,
    in the valley of decision!
For ^(W)the day of the Lord is near
    in the valley of decision.
¹⁵^(X)The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.

¹⁶^(Y)The Lord roars from Zion,
    and ^(Z)utters his voice from Jerusalem,
    ^(AA)and the heavens and the earth quake.
But the Lord is ^(AB)a refuge to his people,
    a stronghold to the people of Israel.

The Glorious Future of Judah

¹⁷^(AC)“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
^(AD)who dwells in Zion, ^(AE)my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and ^(AF)strangers shall never again pass through it.

¹⁸“And in that day
^(AG)the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
    and the hills shall flow with milk,
and ^(AH)all the streambeds of Judah
    shall flow with water;
^(AI)and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
    and water the Valley of ^(AJ)Shittim.

¹⁹^(AK)“Egypt shall become a desolation
    and ^(AL)Edom a desolate wilderness,
^(AM)for the violence done to the people of Judah,
    because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
²⁰^(AN)But Judah shall be inhabited forever,
    and Jerusalem to all generations.
²¹^(AO)I will avenge their blood,
    blood I have not avenged,^[d]
    ^(AP)for the Lord dwells in Zion.”

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Footnotes

Joel 3:1 Ch 4:1 in Hebrew
Joel 3:5 Or palaces
Joel 3:9 Or Consecrate a war
Joel 3:21 Or I will acquit their bloodguilt that I have not acquitted

Romans 12:14-13

English Standard Version

¹⁴^(A)Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵^(B)Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶^(C)Live in harmony with one another. ^(D)Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.^[a] ^(E)Never be wise in your own sight. ¹⁷^(F)Repay no one evil for evil, but ^(G)give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸If possible, so far as it depends on you, ^(H)live peaceably with all. ¹⁹Beloved, ^(I)never avenge yourselves, but leave it^[b] to the wrath of God, for it is written, ^(J)“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰To the contrary, ^(K)“if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Submission to the Authorities

13 Let every person ^(L)be subject to the governing authorities. For ^(M)there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ²Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you ^(N)will receive his approval, ⁴for ^(O)he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, ^(P)an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also ^(Q)for the sake of conscience. ⁶For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. ⁷^(R)Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Fulfilling the Law Through Love

⁸^(S)Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for ^(T)the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹For the commandments, ^(U)“You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ^(V)“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore ^(W)love is the fulfilling of the law.

¹¹Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you ^(X)to wake from sleep. ^(Y)For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. ¹²^(Z)The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us ^(AA)cast off ^(AB)the works of darkness and ^(AC)put on the armor of light. ¹³^(AD)Let us walk properly as in the daytime, ^(AE)not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, ^(AF)not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴But ^(AG)put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, ^(AH)to gratify its desires.