The Nations Will Be Judged

[a]For behold, (A)in those days and at that time,
When I (B)restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
I will (C)gather all the nations
And bring them down to the (D)Valley of [b]Jehoshaphat.
Then I will (E)enter into judgment with them there
On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,
Whom they have (F)scattered among the nations;
And they have (G)divided up My land.
They have also (H)cast lots for My people,
[c](I)Traded a boy for a prostitute,
And sold a girl for wine so that they may drink.

Moreover, what are you to Me, (J)Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of (K)Philistia? Are you repaying Me with retribution? But if you are showing Me retribution, swiftly and speedily I will (L)return your retribution on your head! Since you have (M)taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious [d]treasures to your temples, and sold the (N)sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the [e]Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory, behold, I am going to (O)stir them up from the place where you have sold them, and return your retribution on your head. I will also (P)sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the (Q)Sabeans, to a distant nation,” for the Lord has spoken.

(R)Proclaim this among the nations:
(S)Prepare for holy war; (T)stir up the warriors!
Have all the soldiers come forward, have them come up!
10 (U)Beat your plowshares into swords,
And your pruning hooks into spears;
(V)Let the weak man say, “I am a warrior.”
11 [f](W)Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations,
And gather yourselves there.
Bring down, Lord, Your (X)warriors.
12 Let the nations be awakened
And come up to the (Y)Valley of [g]Jehoshaphat,
For there I will sit to (Z)judge
All the surrounding nations.
13 (AA)Put in the sickle, for the (AB)harvest is ripe.
Come, (AC)tread the grapes, for the (AD)wine press is full;
The vats overflow, for their (AE)wickedness is great.
14 (AF)Multitudes, multitudes in the (AG)valley of [h]decision!
For the (AH)day of the Lord is near in the valley of [i]decision.
15 The (AI)sun and moon have become dark,
And the stars have lost their brightness.
16 The Lord (AJ)roars from Zion
And (AK)utters His voice from Jerusalem,
And the (AL)heavens and the earth quake.
But the Lord is a (AM)refuge for His people,
And a (AN)stronghold for the sons of Israel.
17 Then you will (AO)know that I am the Lord your God,
Dwelling on Zion, My (AP)holy mountain.
So Jerusalem will be (AQ)holy,
And (AR)strangers will no longer pass through it.

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Footnotes

  1. Joel 3:1 Ch 4:1 in Heb
  2. Joel 3:2 I.e., YHWH judges
  3. Joel 3:3 Lit Given
  4. Joel 3:5 Lit goodly things
  5. Joel 3:6 Lit sons of Javan
  6. Joel 3:11 Or Come help
  7. Joel 3:12 I.e., YHWH judges
  8. Joel 3:14 I.e., God’s verdict
  9. Joel 3:14 I.e., God’s verdict

“Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a (A)cup [a]that causes staggering to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against (B)Judah. It will come about on that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy (C)stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will (D)injure themselves severely. And all the (E)nations of the earth will be gathered against it. On that day,” declares the Lord, “I will strike every horse with confusion and its rider with insanity. But I will [b]watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. Then the [c]clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a [d]strong support for us through the Lord of armies, their God.’

“On that day I will make the [e]clans of Judah like a (F)firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while [f]the (G)inhabitants of Jerusalem again live on their own sites in Jerusalem. The Lord also will (H)save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of (I)David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be greater than Judah. On that day the Lord will (J)protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who [g](K)is feeble among them on that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like (L)God, like the (M)angel of the Lord before them. And on that day I will (N)seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

10 “And I will (O)pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem [h]the Spirit of grace and of pleading, so that they will look at Me whom they (P)pierced; and they will mourn for Him, like one (Q)mourning for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. 11 On that day the (R)mourning in Jerusalem will be great, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the [i]plain of [j]Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves; 14 all the families that are left, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.

False Prophets Ashamed

13 “On that day a (S)fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for (T)sin and for (U)defilement.

“And it will come about on that day,” declares the Lord of armies, “that I will (V)eliminate the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the (W)prophets and the (X)unclean spirit from the land. And if anyone still (Y)prophesies, then his father and mother who gave birth to him will say to him, ‘You shall (Z)not live, because you have spoken (AA)falsely in the name of the Lord’; and his (AB)father and mother who gave birth to him shall pierce him through when he prophesies. Also it will come about on that day that the prophets will each be (AC)ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, and they will not put on a (AD)hairy robe in order to deceive; but he will say, ‘I am (AE)not a prophet; I am a cultivator of the ground, because a man [k]sold me as a slave in my youth.’ And someone will say to him, ‘What are these wounds (AF)between your [l]arms?’ Then he will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded at the house of [m]my friends.’

“Awake, (AG)sword, against My (AH)Shepherd,
And against the Man, My (AI)Associate,”
Declares the Lord of armies.
(AJ)Strike the Shepherd and the sheep will be scattered;
And I will (AK)turn My hand [n]against the little ones.
And it will come about in all the land,”
Declares the Lord,
“That (AL)two parts in it will be cut off and perish;
But the third will be left in it.
And I will bring the third part through the (AM)fire,
Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will (AN)call on My name,
And I will (AO)answer them;
I will say, ‘They are (AP)My people,’
And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

God Will Battle Jerusalem’s Enemies

14 Behold, a (AQ)day is coming for the Lord when (AR)the spoils taken from you will be divided among you. For I will (AS)gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be taken, the (AT)houses plundered, the women raped, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be eliminated from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and (AU)fight against those nations, as [o]when He fights on a day of battle. On that day His feet will (AV)stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be (AW)split [p]in its middle from east to west forming a very large valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and the other half toward the south. And you will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled from the (AX)earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. (AY)Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with [q]Him!

On that day there will be (AZ)no light; the [r]luminaries will die out. For it will be (BA)a unique day which is (BB)known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at the (BC)time of evening there will be light.

And on that day (BD)living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.

God Will Be King over All

And the Lord will be (BE)King over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be the only (BF)one, and His name the only one.

10 All the land will change into a plain from (BG)Geba to (BH)Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but [s]Jerusalem will (BI)rise and (BJ)remain on its site from (BK)Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the (BL)Corner Gate, and from the (BM)Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. 11 People will live in it, and there will (BN)no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will (BO)live in security.

12 Now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will (BP)rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. 13 And it will come about on that day that a great panic from the Lord will [t]fall on them; and they will (BQ)seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will [u]be raised against the hand of another. 14 (BR)Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the (BS)wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. 15 And just like this (BT)plague, there will be a plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey, and all the cattle that will be in those camps.

16 Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will (BU)go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of armies, and to celebrate the (BV)Feast of Booths. 17 And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the (BW)King, the Lord of armies, there will be (BX)no rain on them. 18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the (BY)plague with which the Lord strikes the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 19 This will be the [v]punishment of Egypt, and the [w]punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.

20 On that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “(BZ)Holy to the Lord.” And the (CA)cooking pots in the Lords house will be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be (CB)holy to the Lord of armies; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a [x](CC)Canaanite in the house of the Lord of armies on that day.

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 12:2 Lit of reeling
  2. Zechariah 12:4 Lit open My eyes
  3. Zechariah 12:5 Or chiefs
  4. Zechariah 12:5 Lit strength for me
  5. Zechariah 12:6 Or chiefs
  6. Zechariah 12:6 Lit Jerusalem...is again inhabited on its
  7. Zechariah 12:8 Lit stumbles
  8. Zechariah 12:10 Or a spirit
  9. Zechariah 12:11 I.e., broad valley
  10. Zechariah 12:11 Heb Megiddon
  11. Zechariah 13:5 Lit caused another to buy me
  12. Zechariah 13:6 Lit hands
  13. Zechariah 13:6 Lit those who love me
  14. Zechariah 13:7 Or upon
  15. Zechariah 14:3 Lit a day of His fighting
  16. Zechariah 14:4 Lit from
  17. Zechariah 14:5 As in many mss and ancient versions; MT You
  18. Zechariah 14:6 Lit glorious ones will congeal
  19. Zechariah 14:10 Lit it
  20. Zechariah 14:13 Lit be among
  21. Zechariah 14:13 Lit rise
  22. Zechariah 14:19 Lit sin
  23. Zechariah 14:19 Lit sin
  24. Zechariah 14:21 Or merchant

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