Joel 3

For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;

Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:

And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the Lord hath spoken it.

Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:

Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.

Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.

Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.

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Joel 3:6

“The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.”

Study Summary

The statement that the LORD has seen the evil and will rend it asunder and return it upon your own head indicates the lex talionis (law of retaliation) in operation, that the violence perpetrated against Judah will be returned upon the nations. The tearing apart suggests violent destruction. This verse promises that God will execute justice through retaliation.

Community Reflections

Amara Osei (test user)9h ago

Rivers of living water — Joel 3

What a reminder that God's ways are not our ways. The thread of covenant runs through every book of the Bible.. The thread of covenant runs through every book of the Bible.. It implies covenant loyalty, steadfast love that never wavers.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. I think this is a call to trust beyond what we can see. God is faithful in every circumstance.. Their context of persecution gives these words a weight we often miss.. God meets us exactly where we are — broken, uncertain, yet chosen. It implies covenant loyalty, steadfast love that never wavers.. This connects directly to the promise made to Abraham. God is faithful in every circumstance.. The Hebrew word used here carries a richness that English can't fully capture. God is faithful in every circumstance.. There's something deeply comforting about knowing that the same God who spoke these words is the same…

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