Joel

Joel, chapter 3, New English Translation and King James Version

Chapter 3 New English Translation

   1 (1) For look! In those days and at that time I will return the exiles to Judah and Jerusalem.
   2 Then I will gather all the nations, and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. I will enter into judgment against them there concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance, whom they scattered among the nations. They partitioned my land,
   3 and they cast lots for my people. They traded a boy for a prostitute; they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink.
   4 Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon? Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia? I will very quickly repay you for what you have done!
   5 For you took my silver and my gold and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces.
   6 You sold Judeans and Jerusalemites to the Greeks, removing them far from their own country.
   7 Look! I am rousing them from that place to which you sold them. I will repay you for what you have done!
   8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah. They will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away. Indeed, the LORD has spoken!

Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat

   9 Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for a holy war! Call out the warriors! Let all these fighting men approach and attack!
   10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears! Let the weak say, 'I too am a warrior!'
   11 Lend your aid and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves to that place." Bring down, O LORD, your warriors!
   12 Let the nations be roused and let them go up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit in judgment on all the surrounding nations.
   13 Rush forth with the sickle, for the harvest is ripe! Come, stomp the grapes, for the winepress is full! The vats overflow. Indeed, their evil is great!
   14 Crowds, great crowds are in the valley of decision, for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision!
   15 The sun and moon are darkened; the stars withhold their brightness.
   16 The LORD roars from Zion; from Jerusalem his voice bellows out. The heavens and the earth shake. But the LORD is a refuge for his people; he is a stronghold for the citizens of Israel.

The LORD's Presence in Zion

   17 You will be convinced that I the LORD am your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy - conquering armies will no longer pass through it.
   18 On that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the dry stream beds of Judah will flow with water. A spring will flow out from the temple of the LORD, watering the Valley of Acacia Trees.
   19 Egypt will be desolate and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.
   20 But Judah will reside securely forever, and Jerusalem will be secure from one generation to the next.
   21 I will avenge their blood which I had not previously acquitted. It is the LORD who dwells in Zion!

King James Version

   1 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
   2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
   3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
   4 Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;
   5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:
   6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
   7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:
   8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.
   9 ¶ Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
   10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
   11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
   12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
   13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
   14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
   15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
   16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
   17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
   18 ¶ And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
   19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
   20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
   21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.