The Lord Judges the Nations (JOL 3:1-16)

[3:1] “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

[3:2] I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I 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,

[3:3] and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.

[3:4] “What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily.

[3:5] For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.

[3:6] You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border.

[3:7] Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will return your payment on your own head.

[3:8] I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”

[3:9] Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up.

[3:10] Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”

[3:11] Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O Lord.

[3:12] Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

[3:13] Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great.

[3:14] Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

[3:15] The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

[3:16] The Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the Lord is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.