Joel 3

1 For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall turn again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will also gather all the nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of my people and mine inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations: and they have parted my land;

3 and they have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, and have drunk [it].

4 Yea also, what have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Zidon, and all the districts of Philistia? Will ye render me a recompence? But if ye recompense me, swiftly [and] speedily will I bring your recompence upon your own head;

5 because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my beautiful pleasant things,

6 and the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the children of the Greeks, that ye might remove them far from their border.

7 Behold, I will raise them up out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will bring 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 nation far off: for Jehovah hath spoken.

9 Proclaim this among the nations: prepare war, arouse the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.

10 Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-knives into spears; let the weak say, I am strong.

11 Haste ye and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together. Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Jehovah.

12 Let the nations rouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about.

13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down, for the press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Jehovah is at hand in the valley of decision.

15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

16 And Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: and Jehovah will be a shelter for his people, and the refuge of the children of Israel.

17 And ye shall know that I, Jehovah, [am] your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain; and Jerusalem shall be holy, and no strangers shall 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 water-courses of Judah shall flow with waters; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of Jehovah, 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, in that they have shed innocent blood in their land.

20 But Judah shall abide for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 And I will purge them from the blood from which I had not purged them: for Jehovah dwelleth in Zion.

Joel 3 Commentary

Chapter 3

God's judgments in the latter days. (1-8) The extent of these judgments. (9-17) The blessings the church shall enjoy. (18-21)

Verses 1-8 The restoration of the Jews, and the final victory of true religion over all opposers, appear to be here foretold. The contempt and scorn with which the Jews have often been treated as a people, and the little value set upon them, are noticed. None ever hardened his heart against God or his church, and prospered long.

Verses 9-17 Here is a challenge to all the enemies of God's people. There is no escaping God's judgments; hardened sinners, in that day of wrath, shall be cut off from all comfort and joy. Most of the prophets foretell the same final victory of the church of God over all that oppose it. To the wicked it will be a terrible day, but to the righteous it will be a joyful day. What cause have those who possess an interest in Christ, to glory in their Strength and their Redeemer! The acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great favour to some, will be a day of remarkable vengeance to others: let every one that is out of Christ awake, and flee from the wrath to come.

Verses 18-21 There shall be abundant Divine influences, and the gospel will spread speedily into the remotest corners of the earth. These events are predicted under significant emblems; there is a day coming, when every thing amiss shall be amended. The fountain of this plenty is in the house of God, whence the streams take rise. Christ is this Fountain; his sufferings, merit, and grace, cleanse, refresh, and make fruitful. Gospel grace, flowing from Christ, shall reach to the Gentile world, to the most remote regions, and make them abound in fruits of righteousness; and from the house of the Lord above, from his heavenly temple, flows all the good we daily taste, and hope to enjoy eternally.

Footnotes

• [a]. Meaning, 'Jehovah judgeth.'
• [b]. Heb. Javanim, Gen. 10.2.
• [c]. Lit. 'hallow,' 'sanctify,' as Jer. 6.4.
• [d]. Or 'Band together.'
• [e]. Gibbor: see Judg. 5.13; Job 3.3.
• [f]. Or 'what is determined,' as Isa. 10.22, &c.
• [g]. Or 'stronghold,' 'fortress:' see Jer. 16.19.
• [h]. Or 'ravines.'
• [i]. Valley of acacias.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JOEL 3

This chapter, which some make the fourth, contains a prophecy of God's judgments on all the antichristian nations at the time of the Jews' conversion, and the reasons of them, Joe 3:1-3; a threatening of Tyre and Zidon, by way of retaliation, for carrying the riches of the Jews into their temples, and selling their persons to the Greeks, Joe 3:4-8; an alarm to prepare for the battle of Armageddon, or the destruction that shall be made in the valley of Jehoshaphat, Joe 3:9-15; and after that an account of the happy state of the church of Christ, their safety and security, plenty, prosperity, and purity, to the end of the world, Joe 3:16-21.