Joel 3
International Children’s Bible
Punishment for Judah’s Enemies
3 “In those days and at that time,
I will give Judah and Jerusalem back their riches.
2 I will also gather all the nations together.
I will bring them down into the Valley Where the Lord Judges.
And there I will judge them.
Those nations scattered my own people, Israel.
They forced my people to live in other nations.
They divided up my land.
3 They threw lots for my people.
They traded boys for prostitutes.
And they sold girls to buy wine to drink.
4 “Tyre and Sidon and all of you regions of Philistia! What do you have against me? Are you punishing me for something I did? Or are you doing something to hurt me? Then I will quickly do to you what you have done to me. 5 You took my silver and gold. You took my precious treasures and put them in your temples. 6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks. That way you could send them far from their land.
7 “You sent my people to that faraway place. But I will bring them back. And I will do to you what you have done to them. 8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah. Then they will sell them to the Sabean people far away.” The Lord said this.
God Judges the Nations
9 Announce this among the nations:
Prepare for war!
Wake up the soldiers!
Let all the men of war come near and attack.
10 Make your plows into swords.
Make spears from your hooks for trimming trees.
Let the weak say,
“I am strong.”
11 All of you nations, hurry.
Come together in that place.
Lord, send your strong soldiers
to gather the nations.
12 “Wake up, nations.
Come to the Valley Where the Lord Judges.
There I will sit to judge
all the nations on every side.
13 Cut them down like grain
because the harvest is ripe with sin.
Come, walk on them as you would walk on grapes,
because the winepress is full.
The barrels are full of their sins and spilling over.
These people are so evil!”
14 There are many people
in the Valley of Decision.[a]
The Lord’s day of judging is near
in the Valley of Decision.
15 The sun and the moon will become dark.
The stars will stop shining.
16 The Lord will roar like a lion from Jerusalem.
His loud voice will sound like a growl from Jerusalem.
And the sky and the earth will shake.
But the Lord will be a safe place for his people.
He will be a strong place of safety for the people of Israel.
17 “Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.
I stay in my holy Mount Zion.
Jerusalem will become holy.
Strangers will never take over that city again.
A New Life Promised for Judah
18 “On that day the mountains will be covered with grapes for sweet wine.
The hills will be covered with cows to give milk.
And water will flow through all the ravines of Judah.
A fountain will flow from the Temple of the Lord.
It will give water to the valley of acacia trees.
19 But Egypt will become empty.
And Edom will become an empty desert.
This is because they were cruel to the people of Judah.
They killed innocent people in the land of Judah.
20 But there will always be people living in Judah.
And people will live in Jerusalem from now on.
21 Egypt and Edom killed my people.
So I will definitely punish them.”
The Lord lives in Jerusalem!
Joel 3
New King James Version
God Judges the Nations
3 “For behold, (A)in those days and at that time,
When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 (B)I will also gather all nations,
And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
And I (C)will enter into judgment with them there
On account of My people, My heritage Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
They have also divided up My land.
3 They have (D)cast lots for My people,
Have given a boy as payment for a harlot,
And sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
4 “Indeed, what have you to do with Me,
(E)O Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Philistia?
Will you [a]retaliate against Me?
But if you [b]retaliate against Me,
Swiftly and speedily I will return your [c]retaliation upon your own head;
5 Because you have taken My silver and My gold,
And have carried into your temples My [d]prized possessions.
6 Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem
You have sold to the Greeks,
That you may remove them far from their borders.
7 “Behold, (F)I will raise them
Out of the place to which you have sold them,
And will return your [e]retaliation upon your own head.
8 I will sell your sons and your daughters
Into the hand of the people of Judah,
And they will sell them to the (G)Sabeans,[f]
To a people (H)far off;
For the Lord has spoken.”
9 (I)Proclaim this among the nations:
“Prepare for war!
Wake up the mighty men,
Let all the men of war draw near,
Let them come up.
10 (J)Beat your plowshares into swords
And your [g]pruning hooks into spears;
(K)Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ”
11 Assemble and come, all you nations,
And gather together all around.
Cause (L)Your mighty ones to go down there, O Lord.
12 “Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
For there I will sit to (M)judge all the surrounding nations.
13 (N)Put in the sickle, for (O)the harvest is ripe.
Come, go down;
For the (P)winepress is full,
The vats overflow—
For their wickedness is great.”
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For (Q)the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and moon will grow dark,
And the stars will diminish their brightness.
16 The Lord also will roar from Zion,
And utter His voice from Jerusalem;
The heavens and earth will shake;
(R)But the Lord will be a shelter for His people,
And the strength of the children of Israel.
17 “So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
Dwelling in Zion My (S)holy mountain.
Then Jerusalem shall be holy,
And no aliens shall ever pass through her again.”
God Blesses His People
18 And it will come to pass in that day
That the mountains shall drip with new wine,
The hills shall flow with milk,
And all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water;
A (T)fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord
And water the Valley of [h]Acacias.
19 “Egypt shall be a desolation,
And Edom a desolate wilderness,
Because of violence against the people of Judah,
For they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 But Judah shall abide forever,
And Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21 For I will (U)acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted;
For the Lord dwells in Zion.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.