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“For, behold, in those days,
    and in that time,
    when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
I will gather all nations,
    and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat;
    and I will execute judgment on them there for my people,
    and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations.
    They have divided my land,
    and have cast lots for my people,
    and have given a boy for a prostitute,
    and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

“Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre, and Sidon,
    and all the regions of Philistia?
Will you repay me?
    And if you repay me,
    I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head.
Because you have taken my silver and my gold,
    and have carried my finest treasures into your temples,
    and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks,
    that you may remove them far from their border.
Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them,
    and will return your repayment on your own head;
and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah,
    and they will sell them to the men of Sheba,
    to a faraway nation,
    for Yahweh has spoken it.”

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Judgment against Enemy Nations

[a]“At the time of those events,” says the Lord,
    “when I restore the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem,
I will gather the armies of the world
    into the valley of Jehoshaphat.[b]
There I will judge them
    for harming my people, my special possession,
for scattering my people among the nations,
    and for dividing up my land.
They threw dice[c] to decide which of my people
    would be their slaves.
They traded boys to obtain prostitutes
    and sold girls for enough wine to get drunk.

“What do you have against me, Tyre and Sidon and you cities of Philistia? Are you trying to take revenge on me? If you are, then watch out! I will strike swiftly and pay you back for everything you have done. You have taken my silver and gold and all my precious treasures, and have carried them off to your pagan temples. You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks,[d] so they could take them far from their homeland.

“But I will bring them back from all the places to which you sold them, and I will pay you back for everything you have done. I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the people of Arabia,[e] a nation far away. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

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Footnotes

  1. 3:1 Verses 3:1-21 are numbered 4:1-21 in Hebrew text.
  2. 3:2 Jehoshaphat means “the Lord judges.”
  3. 3:3 Hebrew They cast lots.
  4. 3:6 Hebrew to the peoples of Javan.
  5. 3:8 Hebrew to the Sabeans.