The Day of Punishment

14 The Lord’s day of judging is coming. The wealth you have taken will be divided among you.

² I will bring all the nations together to fight Jerusalem. They will capture the city and rob the houses. The women will be raped. Half the people will be taken away as captives. But the rest won’t be taken from the city.

³ Then the Lord will go to war against those nations. He will fight as in a day of battle. ⁴ On that day he will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives will split in two. A deep valley will run east and west. Half the mountain will move north. And half will move south. ⁵ You will run through this mountain valley to the other side. You will run as you ran from the earthquake. That was when Uzziah was king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come. And all the holy ones will be with him.

⁶ On that day there will be no light, cold or frost. ⁷ There will be no other day like it. The Lord knows when it will come. There will be no day or night. Even at evening it will still be light.

⁸ At that time fresh water will flow from Jerusalem. Half of it will flow east to the Dead Sea. And half of it will flow west to the Mediterranean Sea. It will flow summer and winter.

⁹ Then the Lord will be king over the whole world. At that time there will be only one Lord. And his name will be the only name.

¹⁰ All the land south of Jerusalem from Geba to Rimmon will be turned into a plain. Jerusalem will be raised up. But it will stay in the same place. The city will reach from the Benjamin Gate to the First Gate to the Corner Gate. It will go from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. ¹¹ People will live there. It will never be destroyed again. Jerusalem will be safe.

¹² But the Lord will punish the nations that fought against Jerusalem. He will bring a terrible disease on them. Their flesh will rot away while they are still standing up. Their eyes will rot in their sockets. And their tongues will rot in their mouths. ¹³ At that time the Lord will cause panic. Everybody will grab his neighbor. They will attack each other. ¹⁴ The people of Judah will fight in Jerusalem. And the wealth of the nations around them will be collected. There will be much gold, silver and clothes. ¹⁵ A similar disease will strike the horses, mules, camels and donkeys. All the animals in the camps will have the disease.

¹⁶ Some of the people who came to fight Jerusalem will be left alive. They will come back to Jerusalem year after year. They will come to worship the King, the Lord of heaven’s armies. They will celebrate the Feast of Shelters. ¹⁷ Some people from the nations might not go to Jerusalem. They might not worship the King, the Lord of heaven’s armies. Then rain will not fall on their land. ¹⁸ The Egyptians might not go to Jerusalem. They might not celebrate the Feast of Shelters. Then the Lord will send them the same terrible disease the other nations got. ¹⁹ This will be the punishment. It will be for Egypt and any nation which does not go to celebrate the Feast of Shelters.

²⁰ At that time the horses’ bells will have written on them: Holy to the Lord. The cooking pots in the Temple of the Lord will be like the holy altar bowls. ²¹ Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord of heaven’s armies. And everyone who offers sacrifices will be able to cook in them. At that time there will not be any traders in the Temple of the Lord of heaven’s armies.