Chapter 3

The LORD Judges the Nations

¹“Yes, in those days and at that time,

when I restore Judah and Jerusalem from captivity,^a

²I will gather all the nations

and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.^b

There I will enter into judgment against them

concerning My people, My inheritance, Israel,

whom they have scattered among the nations

as they divided up My land.

³They cast lots for My people;

they bartered a boy for a prostitute

and sold a girl for wine to drink.

⁴Now what do you have against Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering against Me a recompense? If you retaliate against Me, I will swiftly and speedily return your recompense upon your heads. ⁵For you took My silver and gold and carried off My finest treasures to your temples.^{c 6}You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks,^d to send them far from their homeland.

⁷Behold, I will rouse them from the places to which you sold them; I will return your recompense upon your heads. ⁸I will sell your sons and daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans—to a distant nation.”

Indeed, the LORD has spoken.

⁹Proclaim this among the nations:

“Prepare for war;

rouse the mighty men;

let all the men of war

advance and attack!

¹⁰Beat your plowshares into swords

and your pruning hooks into spears.

Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’

¹¹Come quickly, all you surrounding nations,

and gather yourselves.

Bring down Your mighty ones,

O LORD.

¹²Let the nations be roused

and advance to the Valley of Jehoshaphat,

for there I will sit down

to judge all the nations on every side.

¹³Swing the sickle,

for the harvest is ripe.^e

Come, trample the grapes,

for the winepress is full;

the wine vats overflow

because their wickedness is great.

¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes

in the valley of decision!

For the Day of the LORD is near

in the valley of decision.

¹⁵The sun and moon will grow dark,

and the stars will no longer shine.

¹⁶The LORD will roar from Zion

and raise His voice from Jerusalem;

heaven and earth will tremble.

But the LORD will be a refuge for His people,

a stronghold for the people of Israel.

Blessings for God’s People

¹⁷Then you will know that I am the LORD your God,

who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain.

Jerusalem will be holy,

never again to be overrun by foreigners.

¹⁸And in that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine,

and the hills will flow with milk.

All the streams of Judah will run with water,

and a spring will flow from the house of the LORD

to water the Valley of Acacias.^f

¹⁹Egypt will become desolate,

and Edom a desert wasteland,

because of the violence done to the people of Judah,

in whose land they shed innocent blood.

²⁰But Judah will be inhabited forever,

and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

²¹For I will avenge their blood,

which I have not yet avenged.^g”

For the LORD dwells in Zion.