Joel 3:19-21

19 1"Egypt shall become a desolation and 2Edom a desolate wilderness, 3for the violence done to the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 4But Judah shall be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem to all generations.
21 5I will avenge their blood, blood I have not avenged,[a] 6for the LORD dwells in Zion."

Joel 3:19-21 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Cross References 6

  • 1. See Isaiah 19:1-17
  • 2. See Isaiah 34:5
  • 3. Obadiah 10
  • 4. Psalms 125:1, 2; Ezekiel 37:25
  • 5. Isaiah 4:4; Ezekiel 36:25, 29
  • 6. [See ver. 17 above]

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or I will acquit their bloodguilt that I have not acquitted
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.