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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!

There follows now another indignity still greater; for they cast lot on God’s people, — On my people they have cast lot, and prostituted a boy for a harlot, and a girl have they sold for wine, that they might drink. By these words the Prophet enhances the injury done them; for the Jews had been reproachfully treated. Some measure of humanity is mostly shown when men are sold; but the Prophet here complains in the person of God, that the Jews had been exposed to sale, as though they were the off scourings of mankind, and of no account. They have cast lots he says; and this was to show contempt; and the Prophet expresses more clearly what he meant, and says, that a boy had been given for a harlot, and a girl for wine. Some consider the Prophet as saying, that boys were prostituted to base and scandalous purposes; but I prefer another view, — that the enemies sold them for a mean price to gratify their gluttony, or their lust; as though the Prophet had said, that the Jews had to endure a grievous reproach by being set to sale, as they say, and that at the lowest price. He farther adds another kind of contempt; for whatever price the enemies procured by selling, they spent it either on harlot or on feasting. We hence see that a twofold injury is here mentioned, — the Jews had been so despised as not to be regarded as men, and had been sold not for the usual prices, but had been disposed of in contempt by their enemies almost for nothing; — and the other reproach was, that the price obtained for them was afterwards spent on gluttony and whoredom: yet this people was sacred to God. Now this contumelious treatment, the Prophet says, God would not endure, but would avenge such a wrong as if done to himself. This is then the meaning.

But the reason which induces me thus to interpret the Prophet is because he says that a girl was sold for wine, as the boy for a harlot; and the construction of the Prophet’s words is the same. It is indeed certain that in the latter clause the Prophet meant nothing else but that the price was wickedly spent for vile and shameful purposes; then the former clause must be understood in the same way. Let us proceed —