Joe 3 | ESV | STEP | For behold , in those days and at that time , when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem ,

1 ^{▼▼Ch 4:1 in Hebrew} “For behold, ^bin those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 ^cI will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And ^dI will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, 3 and ^ehave cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.

4 “What are you to me, ^fO Tyre and Sidon, and all ^gthe regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, ^hI will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. 5 For ⁱyou have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. ^{▼▼Or palaces} 6 You have sold ^kthe people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. 7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and ^lI will return your payment on your own head. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the ^mSabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”

9 Proclaim this among the nations:
ⁿConsecrate for war; ^{▼▼Or Consecrate a war}
stir up the mighty men.
Let all the men of war draw near;
let them come up.
10 ^pBeat your plowshares into swords,
and ^qyour pruning hooks into spears;
let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
11 ^rHasten and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves there.
^sBring down your warriors, O Lord.
12 Let the nations stir themselves up
and come up to ^tthe Valley of Jehoshaphat;
^ufor there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
13 ^vPut in the sickle,
^wfor the harvest is ripe.
^xGo in, tread,
^yfor the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
for their evil is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For ^zthe day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
15 ^aaThe sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
16 ^abThe Lord roars from Zion,
and ^acutters his voice from Jerusalem,
^adand the heavens and the earth quake.
But the Lord is ^aea refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.

The Glorious Future of Judah

17 ^af“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
^agwho dwells in Zion, ^ahmy holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and ^aistrangers shall never again pass through it.
18 “And in that day
^ajthe mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and ^akall the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
^aland a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
and water the Valley of ^amShittim.
19 ^an“Egypt shall become a desolation
and ^aoEdom a desolate wilderness,
^apfor the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 ^aqBut Judah shall be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
21 ^arI will avenge their blood,
blood I have not avenged, ^{▼▼Or I will acquit their bloodguilt that I have not acquitted}
^atfor the Lord dwells in Zion.”