Joel 3:16-20

16 ¹The Lord roars from Zion, and ²utters his voice from Jerusalem, ³and the heavens and the earth quake. But the Lord is ⁴a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.

The Glorious Future of Judah

17 ⁵“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, ⁶who dwells in Zion, ⁷my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy, and ⁸strangers shall never again pass through it.

18 “And in that day ⁹the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and ¹⁰all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; ¹¹and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of ¹²Shittim.

19 ¹³“Egypt shall become a desolation and ¹⁴Edom a desolate wilderness, ¹⁵for the violence done to the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

20 ¹⁶But Judah shall be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem to all generations.

Joel 3:16-20 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. 3:16 ch. 2:11; Amos 1:2; [Jer. 25:30]
• 2. 3:16 ch. 2:11; Amos 1:2; [Jer. 25:30]
• 3. 3:16 ch. 2:10
• 4. 3:16 Isa. 4:6; 25:4
• 5. 3:17 ch. 2:27; [Ezek. 6:7]
• 6. 3:17 ver. 21; [Ezek. 43:7]
• 7. 3:17 ch. 2:1; Ps. 48:1; Isa. 65:11; Jer. 31:23
• 8. 3:17 Isa. 52:1; Nah. 1:15; Zech. 14:21; [Rev. 21:27; 22:15]
• 9. 3:18 Jer. 31:12; Amos 9:13
• 10. 3:18 Isa. 30:25
• 11. 3:18 Ezek. 47:1
• 12. 3:18 See Num. 25:1
• 13. 3:19 See Isa. 19:1-17
• 14. 3:19 See Isa. 34:5
• 15. 3:19 Obad. 10
• 16. 3:20 Ps. 125:1, 2; Ezek. 37:25