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3. The Nations Judged

¹ In Hebrew texts 3:1-21 is numbered 4:1-21.“In those days and at that time,
   when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
² I will gather all nations
   and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat means the LORD judges; also in verse 12.
There I will put them on trial
   for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel,
because they scattered my people among the nations
   and divided up my land.
³ They cast lots for my people
   and traded boys for prostitutes;
   they sold girls for wine to drink.

⁴ “Now what have you against me, Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done. ⁵ For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples. Or palaces ⁶ You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland.

⁷ “See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them, and I will return on your own heads what you have done. ⁸ I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.” The LORD has spoken.

    ⁹ Proclaim this among the nations:
   Prepare for war!
Rouse the warriors!
   Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
¹⁰ Beat your plowshares into swords
   and your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weakling say,
   “I am strong!”
¹¹ Come quickly, all you nations from every side,
   and assemble there.

Bring down your warriors, LORD!

    ¹² “Let the nations be roused;
   let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit
   to judge all the nations on every side.
¹³ Swing the sickle,
   for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes,
   for the winepress is full
   and the vats overflow—
so great is their wickedness!”

    ¹⁴ Multitudes, multitudes
   in the valley of decision!
For the day of the LORD is near
   in the valley of decision.
¹⁵ The sun and moon will be darkened,
   and the stars no longer shine.
¹⁶ The LORD will roar from Zion
   and thunder from Jerusalem;
   the earth and the heavens will tremble.
But the LORD will be a refuge for his people,
   a stronghold for the people of Israel.

Blessings for God’s People

    ¹⁷ “Then you will know that I, the LORD your God,
   dwell in Zion, my holy hill.
Jerusalem will be holy;
   never again will foreigners invade her.

    ¹⁸ “In that day the mountains will drip new wine,
   and the hills will flow with milk;
   all the ravines of Judah will run with water.
A fountain will flow out of the LORD’s house
   and will water the valley of acacias. Or Valley of Shittim
¹⁹ But Egypt will be desolate,
   Edom a desert waste,
because of violence done to the people of Judah,
   in whose land they shed innocent blood.
²⁰ Judah will be inhabited forever
   and Jerusalem through all generations.
²¹ Shall I leave their innocent blood unavenged?
   No, I will not.”

The LORD dwells in Zion!

He afterwards adds, Beat your plowshares into swords. When Isaiah and Micah prophesied of the kingdom of Christ, they said, ‘Beat your swords into pruninghooks, and your spears into plowshares’, (Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3.) This sentence is now inverted by Joel. The words of Isaiah and Micah were intended figuratively to show that the world would be at peace when Christ reconciled men to God, and taught them to cultivate brotherly kindness. But the Prophet says here, that there would be turbulent commotions everywhere, so that there would be no use made of the plough or of the pruninghook; husbandmen would cease from their labor, the land would remain waste; for this is the case when a whole country is exposed to violence; no one dares go out, all desert their fields, cultivation is neglected. Hence the Prophet says, ‘Turn your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears;’ that is, field labor will cease, and all will strenuously apply themselves to war. And let the weak say, I am strong, for there will then be no exemption from war. Excuses, we know, availed formerly on the ground of age or disease, when soldiers were collected; and if any one could have pleaded disease, he was dismissed; but the Prophet says, that there will be no exemption then; “God”, he says, “will excuse none, he will compel all to become warriors, he will even draw out all the sick from their beds; all will be constrained to put on arms”. It hence appears how ardently the Lord loves his Church, since he spares no nations and no people, and exempts none from punishment; for all who have vexed the Church must necessarily receive their recompense. Since then God so severely punishes the enemies of his Church, he thereby gives a singular evidence of his paternal love to us.