Joel 3

For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

1God says, "Listen. In those days, at that time, I will act. Enemies carried the people of Judah and Jerusalem away. I will bring them back home."

2I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

2"I will also gather all the nations together. I will bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will judge them for what they did to my people. Israel belongs to me. The nations scattered my people among other lands. They cut up my land and took pieces of it."

NoteThe KJV says God will "plead with" the nations. In 1611 that meant to bring a case in court, not to beg. God is judging them.

3And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

3"They threw lots, like rolling dice, to split up my people. They handed over a boy to pay a woman who sold her body. They sold a girl to buy wine to drink."

4Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;

4"Now, Tyre and Sidon and all the towns of Philistia, what do you have against me? Are you trying to pay me back for something? If you try, I will pay you back fast. What you did will land on your own heads."

5Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

5"You took my silver and my gold. You carried my finest treasures into your temples, the buildings where you worship your gods."

6The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

6"You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks. You did it to send them far away from their own land."

7Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:

7"But watch. I will stir them up. They will leave the places where you sold them. And I will pay you back for what you did."

8And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

8"I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah. They will sell them to the Sabeans, a people far away. The LORD has said this."

9Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:

9Tell this to all the nations: "Get ready for war! Wake up your strongest fighters! Let all the soldiers come close and attack!"

NoteThe KJV words "Gentiles" and "heathen" here simply mean the other nations, the peoples who are not Israel.

10Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

10"Take the metal blades off your plows and beat them into swords. Take the hooks you trim trees with and make them into spears. Let the weak man say, 'I am strong!'"

11Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.

11"Hurry and come, all you nations around us. Gather yourselves together here." And the prophet prays, "LORD, send your mighty ones down."

12Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.

12"Wake up the nations. Let them march to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will sit down and judge all the nations around."

13Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

13"Swing the curved knife, because the grain is ripe. Come and stomp the grapes. The winepress is full. The tubs are spilling over. These nations have done so much evil."

NoteThe KJV word "fats" means vats: the tubs that catch the juice when grapes are stomped in a winepress.

14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

14Crowds and crowds of people fill the valley of decision! The day of the LORD is near, there in the valley of decision.

15The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

15The sun and the moon will go dark. The stars will stop shining.

16The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

16The LORD will roar like a lion from Zion. He will shout from Jerusalem. The heavens and the earth will shake. But the LORD will be a safe place for his people. He will be a strong place for the people of Israel.

17So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

17"Then you will know that I am the LORD your God. I live in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy. People from other lands will never march through it again."

18And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

18On that day sweet new wine will drip from the mountains. Milk will flow down the hills. Every stream in Judah will run with water. A spring will bubble up from the LORD's house. It will water the valley of Shittim.

19Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

19Egypt will be left empty. Edom will become a dry, empty desert. That is because they hurt the people of Judah. They killed people who had done nothing wrong, right in Judah's land.

20But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

20But people will live in Judah forever. Jerusalem will go on, family after family.

21For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.

21"I will punish those who spilled my people's blood. I have not done it yet, but I will." The LORD lives in Zion.

NoteThe KJV says God will "cleanse their blood." Older translators used "cleanse" for settling a debt of blood, which is why this reads as paying back or punishing.