Joel 3:1-11

The Nations Will Be Judged

1 "For behold, ¹in those days and at that time, When I ²restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will ³gather all the nations And bring them down to the ⁴valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will ⁵enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have ⁶scattered among the nations; And they have ⁷divided up My land.

3 "They have also ⁸cast lots for My people, ⁹Traded a boy for a harlot And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.

4 "Moreover, what are you to Me, O ¹⁰Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of ¹¹Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will ¹²return your recompense on your head.

5 "Since you have ¹³taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious treasures to your temples,

6 and sold the ¹⁴sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory,

7 behold, I am going to ¹⁵arouse them from the place where * you have sold them, and return your recompense on your head.

8 "Also I will ¹⁶sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the ¹⁷Sabeans, to a distant nation," for the LORD has spoken.

9 ¹⁸Proclaim this among the nations: ¹⁹Prepare a war; ²⁰rouse the mighty men! Let all the soldiers * draw near, let them come up!

10 ²¹Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; ²²Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man."

11 ²³Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Your ²⁴mighty ones.

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Joel 3:1-11 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 24

1. Jeremiah 30:3; Ezekiel 38:14
2. Jeremiah 16:15
3. Isaiah 66:18; Micah 4:12; Zechariah 14:2
4. Joel 3:12, 14
5. Isaiah 66:16; Jeremiah 25:31; Ezekiel 38:22
6. Jeremiah 50:17; Ezekiel 34:6
7. Ezekiel 35:10; Ezekiel 36:1-5
8. Obadiah 11; Nahum 3:10
9. Amos 2:6
10. Isaiah 23:1-18; Amos 1:9, 10; Zechariah 9:2-4; Matthew 11:21, 22; Luke 10:13, 14
11. Isaiah 14:29-31; Jeremiah 47:1-7; Ezekiel 25:15-17; Amos 1:6-8; Zechariah 9:5-7
12. Isaiah 34:8; Isaiah 59:18
13. 2 Kings 12:18; 2 Chronicles 21:16, 17
14. Ezekiel 27:13
15. Isaiah 43:5, 6; Jeremiah 23:8; Zechariah 9:13
16. Isaiah 14:2; Isaiah 60:14
17. Job 1:15; Psalms 72:10; Ezekiel 38:13
18. Jeremiah 51:27
19. Jeremiah 6:4; Ezekiel 38:7; Micah 3:5
20. Isaiah 8:9, 10; Jeremiah 46:3, 4; Zechariah 14:2, 3
21. Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3
22. Zechariah 12:8
23. Ezekiel 38:15, 16
24. Isaiah 13:3

Footnotes 6

[a]. Ch 4:1 in Heb
[b]. I.e. YHWH judges
[c]. Lit "Given"
[d]. Lit "goodly things"
[e]. Lit "sons of Javan"
[f]. Or "Lend aid"