The Lord Judges the Nations
1 "For behold,
1in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2
2I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And
3I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land,
3
and
4have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.
4
"What are you to me,
5O Tyre and Sidon, and all
6the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back,
7I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily.
5
For
8you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.
6
You have sold
9the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border.
7
Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and
10I will return your payment on your own head.
8
I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the
11Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the LORD has spoken."
9
Proclaim this among the nations:
12Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up.
10
13Beat your plowshares into swords, and
14your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, "I am a warrior."
11
15Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there.
16Bring down your warriors, O LORD.
12
Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to
17the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
18for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
13
19Put in the sickle,
20for the harvest is ripe.
21Go in, tread,
22for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great.
14
Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For
23the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15
24The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
16
25The LORD roars from Zion, and
26utters his voice from Jerusalem,
27and the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD is
28a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.