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The Day of the Lord

¹ A day of the Lord is coming when the things of much worth taken from you will be divided among you. ² For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle. The city will be taken. The houses will be robbed. The women will be taken against their will. And half of the city will be taken away to a strange land. But the rest of the people will not be taken away from the city. ³ Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. ⁴ On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, in front of Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives will be divided in two from east to west by a very large valley. Half the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. ⁵ You will run away by the valley of My mountains, for it will go as far as Azel. You will run away just as you did when the earth shook in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him. ⁶ On that day there will be no light. The stars of heaven will be made dark. ⁷ It will be a special day which is known to the Lord. It will not be day or night. For when evening comes, there will be light. ⁸ On that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem. Half of them will flow toward the sea in the east. The other half will flow toward the sea in the west. They will flow in summer and in winter.

⁹ The Lord will be King over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one. ¹⁰ The whole land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem will rise and stay on its land from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to where the king's wine is made. ¹¹ People will live in it, and there will be no more curse. The people of Jerusalem will live without fear.

¹² Now this is how the Lord will punish all the people who have gone to war against Jerusalem. Their flesh will waste away while they stand on their feet. Their eyes will waste away in their faces, and their tongues will waste away in their mouths. ¹³ On that day the Lord will send much fear upon them. They will take hold of one another's hand, and the hand of one will be raised against the hand of another. ¹⁴ Judah also will fight at Jerusalem. And the riches of all the nations around will be gathered, much gold and silver and clothing. ¹⁵ The same kind of punishment will come upon the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey, and all the cattle in those camps.

The Nations Worship the King

¹⁶ Then everyone who is left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go each year to worship the King, the Lord of All, and to keep the Special Supper of Tents. ¹⁷ If any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of All, they will have no rain. ¹⁸ If the family of Egypt does not go up to worship, then they will have no rain. The Lord will punish them as He punishes the nations that do not go up to keep the Special Supper of Tents.

¹⁹ This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to keep the Special Supper of Tents. ²⁰ On that day, "Holy to the Lord," will be written on the bells of the horses. And the cooking pots in the house of the Lord will be like the holy dishes in front of the altar. ²¹ Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of All. And all who come bringing gifts in worship will take some of the pots and cook in them. On that day there will no longer be one who buys and sells in the house of the Lord of All.