Joel 3
Good News Translation
God Will Judge the Nations
3 The Lord says,
“At that time I will restore
the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem.
2 I will gather all the nations
and bring them to the Valley of Judgment.
There I will judge them
for all they have done to my people.
They have scattered the Israelites in foreign countries
and divided Israel, my land.
3 They threw dice to decide
who would get the captives.
They sold boys and girls into slavery
to pay for prostitutes and wine.
4 (A)“What are you trying to do to me, Tyre, Sidon, and all of Philistia? Are you trying to pay me back for something? If you are, I will quickly pay you back! 5 You have taken my silver and gold and carried my rich treasures into your temples. 6 You have taken the people of Judah and Jerusalem far from their own country and sold them to the Greeks. 7 Now I am going to bring them out of the places to which you have sold them. I will do to you what you have done to them. 8 I will let your sons and daughters be sold to the people of Judah; they will sell them to the far-off Sabeans. I, the Lord, have spoken.
9 “Make this announcement among the nations:
‘Prepare for war;
call your warriors;
gather all your soldiers and march!
10 (B)Hammer the points of your plows into swords
and your pruning knives into spears.
Even the weak must fight.
11 Hurry[a] and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather in the valley.’”
Send down, O Lord, your army to attack them!
12 “The nations must get ready
and come to the Valley of Judgment.
There I, the Lord, will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
13 (C)They are very wicked;
cut them down like grain
at harvest time;
crush them as grapes are crushed
in a full wine press
until the wine runs over.”
14 Thousands and thousands
are in the Valley of Judgment.
It is there that the day of the Lord
will soon come.
15 The sun and the moon grow dark,
and the stars no longer shine.
God Will Bless His People
16 (D)The Lord roars from Mount Zion;
his voice thunders from Jerusalem;
earth and sky tremble.
But he will defend his people.
17 “Then, Israel, you will know that I am the Lord your God.
I live on Zion, my sacred hill.
Jerusalem will be a sacred city;
foreigners will never conquer it again.
18 At that time the mountains will be covered with vineyards,
and cattle will be found on every hill;
there will be plenty of water for all of Judah.
A stream will flow from the Temple of the Lord,
and it will water Acacia Valley.
19 “Egypt will become a desert,
and Edom a ruined waste,
because they attacked the land of Judah
and killed its innocent people.
20-21 I will avenge[b] those who were killed;
I will not spare the guilty.
But Judah and Jerusalem will be inhabited forever,
and I, the Lord, will live on Mount Zion.”
Joel 3
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
3 [a]For then, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,(A) 2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with them there, on account of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations. They have divided my land(B) 3 and cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes and sold girls for wine and drunk it down.(C)
4 What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads swiftly and speedily.(D) 5 For you have taken my silver and my gold and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.[b] 6 You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them far from their own border. 7 But now I will rouse them to leave the places to which you have sold them, and I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads.(E) 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.(F)
Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
Consecrate yourselves for war;
stir up the warriors.
Let all the soldiers draw near;
let them come up.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords
and your pruning hooks into spears;
let the weakling say, “I am a warrior.”(G)
11 Come quickly,[c]
all you nations all around;
gather yourselves there.
Bring down your warriors, O Lord.(H)
12 Let the nations rouse themselves
and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit to judge
all the neighboring nations.(I)
13 Put in the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Go in, tread,
for the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
for their wickedness is great.(J)
14 Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.(K)
15 The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
16 The Lord roars from Zion
and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
and the heavens and the earth shake.
But the Lord is a refuge for his people,
a stronghold for the people of Israel.(L)
The Glorious Future of Judah
17 So you shall know that I, the Lord your God,
dwell in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and strangers shall never again pass through it.(M)
18 In that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
and water the Wadi Shittim.(N)
19 Egypt shall become a desolation
and Edom a desolate wilderness,
because of the violence done to the people of Judah,
in whose land they have shed innocent blood.(O)
20 But Judah shall be inhabited forever
and Jerusalem to all generations.(P)
21 I will avenge their blood, and I will not clear the guilty,[d]
for the Lord dwells in Zion.(Q)
Joel 3
The Message
God Is a Safe Hiding Place
3 1-3 “In those days, yes, at that very time
when I put life back together again for Judah and Jerusalem,
I’ll assemble all the godless nations.
I’ll lead them down into Judgment Valley
And put them all on trial, and judge them one and all
because of their treatment of my own people Israel.
They scattered my people all over the pagan world
and grabbed my land for themselves.
They threw dice for my people
and used them for barter.
They would trade a boy for a whore,
sell a girl for a bottle of wine when they wanted a drink.
* * *
4-8 “As for you, Tyre and Sidon and Philistia,
why should I bother with you?
Are you trying to get back at me
for something I did to you?
If you are, forget it.
I’ll see to it that it boomerangs on you.
You robbed me, cleaned me out of silver and gold,
carted off everything valuable to furnish your own temples.
You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem
into slavery to the Greeks in faraway places.
But I’m going to reverse your crime.
I’m going to free those slaves.
I’ll have done to you what you did to them:
I’ll sell your children as slaves to your neighbors,
And they’ll sell them to the far-off Sabeans.”
God’s Verdict.
* * *
9-11 Announce this to the godless nations:
Prepare for battle!
Soldiers at attention!
Present arms! Advance!
Turn your shovels into swords,
turn your hoes into spears.
Let the weak one throw out his chest
and say, “I’m tough, I’m a fighter.”
Hurry up, pagans! Wherever you are, get a move on!
Get your act together.
Prepare to be
shattered by God!
12 Let the pagan nations set out
for Judgment Valley.
There I’ll take my place at the bench
and judge all the surrounding nations.
13 “Swing the sickle—
the harvest is ready.
Stomp on the grapes—
the winepress is full.
The wine vats are full,
overflowing with vintage evil.
14 “Mass confusion, mob uproar—
in Decision Valley!
God’s Judgment Day has arrived
in Decision Valley.
15-17 “The sky turns black,
sun and moon go dark, stars burn out.
God roars from Zion, shouts from Jerusalem.
Earth and sky quake in terror.
But God is a safe hiding place,
a granite safe house for the children of Israel.
Then you’ll know for sure
that I’m your God,
Living in Zion,
my sacred mountain.
Jerusalem will be a sacred city,
posted: ‘no trespassing.’
Milk Rivering out of the Hills
18-21 “What a day!
Wine streaming off the mountains,
Milk rivering out of the hills,
water flowing everywhere in Judah,
A fountain pouring out of God’s Sanctuary,
watering all the parks and gardens!
But Egypt will be reduced to weeds in a vacant lot,
Edom turned into barren badlands,
All because of brutalities to the Judean people,
the atrocities and murders of helpless innocents.
Meanwhile, Judah will be filled with people,
Jerusalem inhabited forever.
The sins I haven’t already forgiven, I’ll forgive.”
God has moved into Zion for good.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson