Joel 3:9-16

9 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.

10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, “I am strong!”

11 Come quickly, all you nations from every side, and assemble there. Bring down your warriors, LORD!

12 “Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side.

13 Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow— so great is their wickedness!”

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

15 The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine.

16 The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.

Joel 3:9-16 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. S Isaiah 8:9
• 2. Jeremiah 46:4
• 3. Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3
• 4. S Numbers 25:7
• 5. Zechariah 12:8
• 6. S Joshua 1:6
• 7. Ezekiel 38:15-16; Zephaniah 3:8
• 8. S Isaiah 13:3
• 9. S ver 2
• 10. S Psalms 82:1; S Isaiah 2:4
• 11. Mark 4:29
• 12. S Isaiah 17:5; S Hosea 6:11; Matthew 13:39; Revelation 14:15-19
• 13. S Jeremiah 25:30
• 14. S Judges 6:11; S Revelation 14:20
• 15. Isaiah 13:4
• 16. S Isaiah 22:1
• 17. Isaiah 34:2-8; S Joel 1:15; S Zephaniah 1:7
• 18. S Isaiah 2:4; S Ezekiel 36:5
• 19. S Job 9:7; S Ezekiel 32:7
• 20. S Isaiah 42:13
• 21. Amos 1:2
• 22. S Judges 5:4; S Isaiah 14:16; S Ezekiel 38:19
• 23. S Psalms 46:1; S Isaiah 25:4; Zechariah 12:8
• 24. S 2 Samuel 22:3; Jeremiah 16:19; Zechariah 9:12