English / ERV
Joel 3
Easy-to-Read Version, 2006
- 1“Yes, at that time I will bring back the people of Judah and Jerusalem from captivity.
- 2I will also gather all the nations together. I will bring all these nations down into Jehoshaphat Valley.[1] There I will judge them. Those nations scattered my people, Israel. They forced them to live in other nations, so I will punish those nations. They divided up my land.
- 3They threw lots for my people. They sold boys to buy a prostitute, and they sold girls to buy wine to drink.
- 4“Tyre! Sidon! All of you areas of Philistia! You are not important to me![2] Are you punishing me for something I did? You might think that you are punishing me, but I will soon punish you.
- 5You took my silver and gold. You took my precious treasures and put them in your temples.[3]
- 6“You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks. That way you could take them far from their land.
- 7You sent my people to that faraway place, but I will bring them back. And I will punish you for what you did.
- 8I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah. Then they will sell them to the faraway Sabeans.[4]” This is what the LORD said.
- 9Announce this among the nations: Prepare for war! Wake up the strong men! Let all the men of war come near. Let them come up!
- 10Beat your plows into swords. Make spears from your pruning hooks.[5] Let the weak man say, “I am a strong soldier.”
- 11All you nations, hurry! Come together in that place. LORD, bring your strong soldiers.
- 12Wake up, nations! Come to Jehoshaphat Valley. There I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
- 13Bring the sickle, because the harvest is ripe.[6] Come, walk on the grapes, because the winepress is full. The barrels will be full and spilling over, because their evil is great.
- 14There are many, many people in the Valley of Decision.[7] The LORD’s special day is near in the Valley of Decision.
- 15The sun and the moon will become dark. The stars will stop shining.
- 16The LORD God will shout from Zion. He will shout from Jerusalem, and the sky and the earth will shake. But the LORD God will be a safe place for his people. He will be a place of safety for the people of Israel.
- 17“Then you will know that I am the LORD your God. I live on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will become holy. Strangers will never pass through that city again.
- 18“On that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine. The hills will flow with milk, and water will flow through all the empty rivers of Judah. A fountain will come from the LORD’s Temple. It will give water to Acacia Valley.
- 19Egypt will be empty. Edom will be an empty wilderness, because they were cruel to the people of Judah. They killed innocent people[8] in their country.
- 20But there will always be people living in Judah. People will live in Jerusalem through many generations.
- 21Those people killed my people, so I really will punish them!” The LORD God will live in Zion!