the Second Week of Advent
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Christian Standard Bible ®
Joel 3
Judgment of the Nations
1 Yes, in those days and at that time,2 I will gather all the nations(C1)
and take them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.(F1)(C2)
I will enter into judgment with them there(C3)
because of my people, my inheritance Israel.
The nations have scattered the Israelites
in foreign countries(C4)
and divided up my land.(C5)3 They cast lots for my people;(C1)
they bartered a boy for a prostitute
and sold a girl for wine to drink.(C2)
4 And also: Tyre,(C1) Sidon, and all the territories of Philistia(C2)—what are you to me? Are you paying me back or trying to get even with me? I will quickly bring retribution on your heads.(C3) 5 For you took my silver and gold and carried my finest treasures(C1) to your temples. 6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks(C1) to remove them far from their own territory. 7 Look, I am about to rouse them up from the place where you sold them;(C1) I will bring retribution on your heads. 8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah,(C1) and they will sell them to the Sabeans,(F1)(C2) to a distant nation, for the Lord has spoken.
9 Proclaim this among the nations:(C1)
Prepare for holy war;(C2)
rouse the warriors;(C3)
let all the men of war advance and attack!10 Beat your plows into swords
and your pruning knives into spears.(C1)
Let even the weakling say, “I am a warrior.”11 Come quickly,(F1) all you surrounding nations;
gather yourselves.(C1)
Bring down your warriors there, Lord.(C2)
12 Let the nations be roused
and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit down
to judge all the surrounding nations.(C1)13 Swing the sickle
because the harvest is ripe.(C1)
Come and trample the grapes
because the winepress is full;(C2)
the wine vats overflow
because the wickedness of the nations is extreme.(C3)
14 Multitudes, multitudes(C1)
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near(C2)
in the valley of decision.15 The sun and moon will grow dark,
and the stars will cease their shining.(C1)16 The Lord will roar from Zion(C1)
and make his voice heard from Jerusalem;(C2)
heaven and earth will shake.(C3)
But the Lord will be a refuge for his people,(C4)
a stronghold for the Israelites.(C5)
Israel Blessed
17 Then you will know
that I am the Lord your God,(C1)
who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain.(C2)
Jerusalem will be holy,(C3)
and foreigners will never overrun it again.(C4)18 In that day
the mountains will drip with sweet wine,(C1)
and the hills will flow with milk.(C2)
All the streams of Judah will flow with water,(C3)
and a spring will issue from the Lord’s house,(C4)
watering the Valley of Acacias.(F1)(C5)19 Egypt will become desolate,
and Edom a desert wasteland,
because of the violence done to the people of Judah(C1)
in whose land they shed innocent blood.20 But Judah will be inhabited forever,(C1)
and Jerusalem from generation to generation.21 I will pardon their bloodguilt,(F1)(C1)
which I have not pardoned,
for the Lord dwells in Zion.
Christian Standard Bible ®
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
