Joel 3:2-12

2 I will 1gather all the nations And bring them down to the 2valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will 3enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have 4scattered among the nations; And they have 5divided up My land.
3 "They have also 6cast lots for My people, 7Traded a boy for a harlot And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.
4 "Moreover, what are you to Me, O 8Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of 9Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will 10return your recompense on your head.
5 "Since you have 11taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious treasures to your temples,
6 and sold the 12sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory,
7 behold, I am going to 13arouse them from the place where * you have sold them, and return your recompense on your head.
8 "Also I will 14sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the 15Sabeans, to a distant nation," for the LORD has spoken.
9 16Proclaim this among the nations: 17Prepare a war; 18rouse the mighty men! Let all the soldiers * draw near, let them come up!
10 19Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; 20Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man."
11 21Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Your 22mighty ones.
12 Let the nations be aroused And come up to the 23valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to 24judge All the surrounding nations.

Joel 3:2-12 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 24

  • 1. Isaiah 66:18; Micah 4:12; Zechariah 14:2
  • 2. Joel 3:12, 14
  • 3. Isaiah 66:16; Jeremiah 25:31; Ezekiel 38:22
  • 4. Jeremiah 50:17; Ezekiel 34:6
  • 5. Ezekiel 35:10; Ezekiel 36:1-5
  • 6. Obadiah 11; Nahum 3:10
  • 7. Amos 2:6
  • 8. Isaiah 23:1-18; Amos 1:9, 10; Zechariah 9:2-4; Matthew 11:21, 22; Luke 10:13, 14
  • 9. Isaiah 14:29-31; Jeremiah 47:1-7; Ezekiel 25:15-17; Amos 1:6-8; Zechariah 9:5-7
  • 10. Isaiah 34:8; Isaiah 59:18
  • 11. 2 Kings 12:18; 2 Chronicles 21:16, 17
  • 12. Ezekiel 27:13
  • 13. Isaiah 43:5, 6; Jeremiah 23:8; Zechariah 9:13
  • 14. Isaiah 14:2; Isaiah 60:14
  • 15. Job 1:15; Psalms 72:10; Ezekiel 38:13
  • 16. Jeremiah 51:27
  • 17. Jeremiah 6:4; Ezekiel 38:7; Micah 3:5
  • 18. Isaiah 8:9, 10; Jeremiah 46:3, 4; Zechariah 14:2, 3
  • 19. Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3
  • 20. Zechariah 12:8
  • 21. Ezekiel 38:15, 16
  • 22. Isaiah 13:3
  • 23. Joel 3:2, 14
  • 24. Psalms 7:6; Psalms 96:13; Psalms 98:9; Isaiah 2:4; Isaiah 3:13

Footnotes 6

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