Joel 3:1-16

The LORD Judges the Nations

1 “Yes, in those days and at that time, when I restore Judah and Jerusalem from captivity, ^[a]

2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. ^[b] There I will enter into judgment against them concerning My people, My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations as they divided up My land.

3 They cast lots for My people; they bartered a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine to drink.

4 Now what do you have against Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering against Me a recompense? If you retaliate against Me, I will swiftly and speedily return your recompense upon your heads.

5 For you took My silver and gold and carried off My finest treasures to your temples. ^[c]

6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, ^[d] to send them far from their homeland.

7 Behold, I will rouse them from the places to which you sold them; I will return your recompense upon your heads.

8 I will sell your sons and daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans—to a distant nation.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.

9 Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war; rouse the mighty men; let all the men of war advance and attack!

10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’

11 Come quickly, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves. Bring down Your mighty ones, O LORD.

12 Let the nations be roused and advance to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit down to judge all the nations on every side.

13 Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. ^[e] Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because their wickedness is great.

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 grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine.

16 The LORD will roar from Zion and raise His voice from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.

Joel 3:1-16 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem
• [b]. Jehoshaphat means the LORD judges; also in verse 12.
• [c]. Or palaces
• [d]. Or to the peoples of Javan
• [e]. LXX the harvest has come; see also Mark 4:29.