Joel

3 For lo! in those days and at that time,—When I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem

2 Then will I gather all the nations, And bring them down into the Vale of Jehoshaphat,—And will enter into judgment with them there Concerning my people and mine inheritance Israel Whom they scattered among the nations, And my land they apportioned;

3 And for my people they cast lots,—And gave a Boy for a harlot, And a Girl sold they for wine—and drank.

4 Moreover also what have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Zidon, And all the circuit of Palestine? A recompense are ye paying back unto me? But though ye should make a recompense unto me Swiftly, speedily would I return your recompense upon your own head.

5 Because my silver and my gold ye took away,—And my richly beautiful things carried ye into your temples;

6 And the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem ye sold to the sons of Greece,—That they might be far removed from their own boundary.

7 Behold me! rousing them up out of the place whither ye sold them,—So will I bring back your dealing upon your own head.

8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, And they will sell them to Sabeans unto a nation afar off,—For Yahweh hath spoken.

9 Proclaim ye this among the nations, Hallow a war, Rouse the mighty ones, Let them draw near, come up all the men of war!

10 Beat your plough-shares into swords, And your pruning-hooks into spears,—As for the weak let him say, Mighty I am.

11 Give help—and come in, all ye nations on every side, and gather yourselves together,—Thither bring down, O Yahweh, thy mighty ones!

12 Let the nations be roused and come up into the Vale of Jehoshaphat,—For there will I sit to judge all the nations on every side.

13 Thrust ye in the vintage knife, For grown ripe is the vintage,—Go in, tread down For full is the winepress, Flow over do the vats, For abundant is their wickedness.

14 Multitudes, multitudes, in the vale of strict decision,—For near is the day of Yahweh, in the vale of strict decision.

15 The sun and the moon have become dark,—And the stars have withdrawn their shining,

16 And Yahweh out of Zion will roar And out of Jerusalem will utter his voice, And the heavens and the earth shall tremble,—But Yahweh shall be a shelter to his people, And a refuge to the sons of Israel.

17 So shall ye know that I Yahweh am your God, making my habitation in Zion my holy mountain,—So shall Jerusalem be holy, And foreigners shall pass through her no more.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day That the mountains shall drip sweet wine And the hills shall flow down with milk, And all the channels of Judah shall flow down with waters,—And a spring out of the house of Yahweh shall come forth, And shall water the torrent-valley of the acacias.

19 Egypt to a desolation shall be turned, And Edom to a desert most desolate shall be changed,—Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, In that they shed innocent blood in their land.

20 But Judah age-abidingly shall remain, And Jerusalem to generation after generation.

21 And I will free from their blood-guiltiness them whom I had not freed,—For Yahweh is about to make his habitation in Zion.