the Fourth Week of Advent
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Bishop's Bible
Joel 3
1 For beholde, in those dayes and in that time when I shall bryng agayne the captiuitie of Iuda & Hierusalem,2 I wyll also gather all the gentiles, and cause them to come into the valley of Iehosaphat, and I will pleade with them there for my people and heritage Israel, which they haue scattered amongst the nations, and haue parted my lande.3 And thei haue cast lottes for my people, and chaunged the boy for an harlot, and solde the gyrle for wine, that they might drynke.4 And what haue you to do with me O Tyre and Sidon, and all the coastes of Palestine? wyll ye render me recompence? and if you recompence me, I shal swiftly [and] speedyly returne your recompence vpon your owne heades.5 For ye haue taken my siluer and my golde, my pleasaunt & pretious thinges, & haue caryed them into your temples.6 You haue solde also the children of Iuda and the children of Hierusalem to the Gretians, that you might send them farre from their owne countrey.7 Beholde, I will rayse them out of that place whither you haue solde them, and wyll returne your recompence vpon your owne heades.8 And I wyll sell your sonnes and your daughters into the handes of the children of Iuda, and they shall sell them vnto the Sabeans, to a nation that dwelleth farre of: for the Lorde hath spoken it.
9 Publishe this thyng among the gentiles, proclayme warre, wake vp the mightie men, let all the men of warre drawe neare and come vp.10 Breake your plowe shares into swordes, and your sithes into speares, let the weake say, I am strong.11 Assemble your selues and come all you heathen, and gather your selues together rounde about, there shall the Lord cast downe thy mightie men.12 Let the heathen arise and come vp to the valley of Iehosaphat: for there will I sit to iudge all nations rounde about.13 Put in your sithes, for ye haruest is ripe: come ye [and] descende, for the wine presse is full, [yea] the presses ouerflowe: for their wickednesse is multiplied.14 O people, people [come] into the valley of finall iudgement: for the day of the Lorde is at hande in the valley of finall iudgement.15 The sunne and the moone shalbe darkned, and the starres shall withdrawe their light.16 The Lord also shall rose out of Sion, and out of Hierusalem shall he geue his voyce, the heauens and the earth shall shake: but the Lorde wyll be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.17 So shall you knowe that I am the Lorde your God dwellyng in Sion my holy mountayne: then shall Hierusalem be holy, and there shall no straungers passe through here any more.
18 And in that day shall the mountaynes drop downe sweete wine, and the hylles shall flowe with mylke, & all the riuers of Iuda shall runne with water, and a fountayne shall come out of the house of the Lorde, and shall water the valley of Sittim.19 Egypt shalbe waste, and Edom shalbe a desolate wildernesse: for the iniuries [done] to the children of Iuda: because they haue shed innocent blood in their lande.20 But Iuda shal dwel for euermore, and Hierusalem from generation to generation.21 I wil also clense the blood of them [that] I haue not clensed, and the Lord dwelleth in Sion.