The Lord Judges the Nations
“For behold, ain those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 aI will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And bI 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 and ahave cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.
4 “What are you to me, aO Tyre and Sidon, and all bthe regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, cI will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. 5 For ayou have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. 6 You have sold athe people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. 7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and aI will return your payment on your own head. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the aSabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
aConsecrate for war;
stir up the mighty men.
Let all the men of war draw near;
let them come up.
10 aBeat your plowshares into swords,
and ayour pruning hooks into spears;
let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
11 aHasten and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves there.
bBring down your warriors, O Lord.
12 Let the nations stir themselves up
and come up to athe Valley of Jehoshaphat;
bfor there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
13 aPut in the sickle,
bfor the harvest is ripe.
cGo in, tread,
cfor the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
for their evil is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For athe day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
15 aThe sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
16 aThe Lord roars from Zion,
and autters his voice from Jerusalem,
band the heavens and the earth quake.
But the Lord is ca refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.
The Glorious Future of Judah
17 a“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
bwho dwells in Zion, cmy holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and dstrangers shall never again pass through it.
18 “And in that day
athe mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and ball the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
cand a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
and water the Valley of dShittim.
19 a“Egypt shall become a desolation
and bEdom a desolate wilderness,
cfor the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 aBut Judah shall be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
21 aI will avenge their blood,
blood I have not avenged,
bfor the Lord dwells in Zion.”