Joel 3:15-21

15 The ¹sun and moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness.

16 The LORD ²roars from Zion And ³utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the ⁴heavens and the earth tremble. But the LORD is a ⁵refuge for His people And a ⁶stronghold to the sons of Israel.

17 Then you will ⁷know that I am the LORD your God, Dwelling in Zion, My ⁸holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be ⁹holy, And ¹⁰strangers will pass through it no more.

Judah Will Be Blessed

18 And in that day The ¹¹mountains will drip with sweet wine, And the hills will ¹²flow with milk, And all the ¹³brooks of Judah will flow with water; And a ¹⁴spring will go out from the house of the LORD To water the valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt will become a waste, And Edom will become a desolate wilderness, Because of the ¹⁵violence done to the sons of Judah, In whose land they have shed innocent blood.

20 But Judah will be ¹⁶inhabited forever And Jerusalem for all generations.

21 And I will ¹⁷avenge their blood which I have not avenged, For the LORD dwells in Zion.

Joel 3:15-21 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. Joel 2:10, 31
• 2. Hosea 11:10; Amos 1:2
• 3. Joel 2:11
• 4. Ezekiel 38:19; Joel 2:10; Haggai 2:6
• 5. Psalms 61:3; Isaiah 33:16; Jeremiah 17:17
• 6. Jeremiah 16:19; Nahum 1:7
• 7. Joel 2:27
• 8. Isaiah 11:9; Isaiah 56:7; Ezekiel 20:40
• 9. Isaiah 4:3; Obadiah 17
• 10. Isaiah 52:1; Nahum 1:15
• 11. Amos 9:13
• 12. Exodus 3:8
• 13. Isaiah 30:25; Isaiah 35:6
• 14. Ezekiel 47:1-12
• 15. Obadiah 10
• 16. Ezekiel 37:25; Amos 9:15
• 17. Isaiah 4:4

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "freshly pressed out grape juice"
• [b]. Or "acacias"
• [c]. Lit "of the sons"