Joel 3:12-21

12 Let the nations be aroused And come up to the ¹valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to ²judge All the surrounding nations.

13 ³Put in the sickle, for the ⁴harvest is ripe. Come, ⁵tread, for the ⁶wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their ⁷wickedness is great.

14 ⁸Multitudes, multitudes in the ⁹valley of decision! For the ¹⁰day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

15 The ¹¹sun and moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness.

16 The LORD ¹²roars from Zion And ¹³utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the ¹⁴heavens and the earth tremble. But the LORD is a ¹⁵refuge for His people And a ¹⁶stronghold to the sons of Israel.

17 Then you will ¹⁷know that I am the LORD your God, Dwelling in Zion, My ¹⁸holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be ¹⁹holy, And ²⁰strangers will pass through it no more.

Judah Will Be Blessed

18 And in that day The ²¹mountains will drip with sweet wine, And the hills will ²²flow with milk, And all the ²³brooks of Judah will flow with water; And a ²⁴spring will go out from the house of the LORD To water the valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt will become a waste, And Edom will become a desolate wilderness, Because of the ²⁵violence done to the sons of Judah, In whose land they have shed innocent blood.

20 But Judah will be ²⁶inhabited forever And Jerusalem for all generations.

21 And I will ²⁷avenge their blood which I have not avenged, For the LORD dwells in Zion.

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Joel 3:12-21 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 27

1. Joel 3:2, 14
2. Psalms 7:6; Psalms 96:13; Psalms 98:9; Isaiah 2:4; Isaiah 3:13
3. Revelation 14:14-19
4. Jeremiah 51:33; Hosea 6:11
5. Revelation 14:19, 20; Revelation 19:15
6. Isaiah 63:3; Lamentations 1:15
7. Genesis 18:20
8. Isaiah 34:2-8
9. Joel 3:2, 12
10. Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1, 11, 31
11. Joel 2:10, 31
12. Hosea 11:10; Amos 1:2
13. Joel 2:11
14. Ezekiel 38:19; Joel 2:10; Haggai 2:6
15. Psalms 61:3; Isaiah 33:16; Jeremiah 17:17
16. Jeremiah 16:19; Nahum 1:7
17. Joel 2:27
18. Isaiah 11:9; Isaiah 56:7; Ezekiel 20:40
19. Isaiah 4:3; Obadiah 17
20. Isaiah 52:1; Nahum 1:15
21. Amos 9:13
22. Exodus 3:8
23. Isaiah 30:25; Isaiah 35:6
24. Ezekiel 47:1-12
25. Obadiah 10
26. Ezekiel 37:25; Amos 9:15
27. Isaiah 4:4

Footnotes 6

[a]. I.e. YHWH judges
[b]. I.e. God's verdict
[c]. I.e. God's verdict
[d]. Lit "freshly pressed out grape juice"
[e]. Or "acacias"
[f]. Lit "of the sons"