Joel 3:12-16

12 Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to ¹the Valley of Jehoshaphat; ²for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

13 ³Put in the sickle, ⁴for the harvest is ripe. ⁵Go in, tread, ⁶for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great.

14 Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For ⁷the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

15 ⁸The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

16 ⁹The LORD roars from Zion, and ¹⁰utters his voice from Jerusalem, ¹¹and the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD is ¹²a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.

Joel 3:12-16 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

• 1. ver. 2
• 2. Psalms 96:13; Psalms 98:9; Psalms 110:6; Isaiah 2:4; Isaiah 3:13; Micah 4:3
• 3. Revelation 14:15
• 4. [Jeremiah 51:33; Hosea 6:11; Matthew 13:30, 39; Mark 4:29; John 4:35; Revelation 14:15, 18]
• 5. Revelation 14:20; [Isaiah 63:2, 3]
• 6. Revelation 14:20; [Isaiah 63:2, 3]
• 7. See Joel 1:15
• 8. See Joel 2:10
• 9. Joel 2:11; Amos 1:2; [Jeremiah 25:30]
• 10. Joel 2:11; Amos 1:2; [Jeremiah 25:30]
• 11. Joel 2:10
• 12. Isaiah 4:6; Isaiah 25:4