Joel 3:6-16

6 You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, so they could take them far from their homeland.

7 “But I will bring them back from all the places to which you sold them, and I will pay you back for everything you have done.

8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the people of Arabia, a nation far away. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

9 Say to the nations far and wide: “Get ready for war! Call out your best warriors. Let all your fighting men advance for the attack.

10 Hammer your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Train even your weaklings to be warriors.

11 Come quickly, all you nations everywhere. Gather together in the valley.” And now, O LORD, call out your warriors!

12 “Let the nations be called to arms. Let them march to the valley of Jehoshaphat. There I, the LORD, will sit to pronounce judgment on them all.

13 Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread the grapes, for the winepress is full. The storage vats are overflowing with the wickedness of these people.”

14 Thousands upon thousands are waiting in the valley of decision. There the day of the LORD will soon arrive.

15 The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine.

16 The LORD ’s voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth will shake. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a strong fortress for the people of Israel.

Joel 3:6-16 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]. Hebrew to the peoples of Javan.
• [b]. Hebrew to the Sabeans.
• [c]. Greek version reads for the harvest time has come. Compare Mark 4:29 .