Joel
Chapter 4
Judgment of the Nations
In those days, and at that time, when I reestablish Judah and Jerusalem,
I will gather all the nations and bring them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will defend Israel, my people, and my heritage against them. For they have dispersed them among the nations and divided my land.
They cast lots for my people; they traded a boy for a prostitute and a girl for the wine they drank.
And you, Tyre and Sidon, and all the region of Philistia, what do you have to do with me? Will you take revenge on me? If you do, I will retaliate against you quickly and immediately.
You, who took my silver, gold, and finest jewelry into your temples!
You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them far from their own land.
But now I am going to summon them from wherever you sold them, and I will bring your punishment back on your head.
The Lord says: I will sell your sons and daughters to the Judeans, who will then sell them to the Sabaeans in a distant land.
Make this known among the nations; proclaim the holy war; call the warriors; let men of war advance!
Hammer your plowshares into swords, your sickles into spears! Let the weak say: I am a warrior! And the meek: I, too, will fight!
Come quickly, neighboring nations, and gather!
Rise up, O people, and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, nations.
Bring a sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come and tread, for the winepress is full, and the vats overflow —so great is their wickedness!
Multitudes upon multitudes in the Valley of Verdict! The day of the Lord is near in the Valley of Verdict!
The sun and the moon will darken, and the stars will lose their brightness.
The Lord roars from Zion and raises his voice from Jerusalem; heaven and earth shake. Truly, the Lord is a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the Israelites.
You will know that I am the Lord, your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be a holy place, and foreigners will never pass through there again.
On that day, the mountains will drip with wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the streams of Judah will run with water, and a spring will flow from the house of the Lord to water the Valley of Shittim.
On the other hand, Egypt will be destroyed, and Edom will become a deserted wasteland because they committed violence against Judah and shed innocent blood in their land.
But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem through all generations.
1And I will avenge their blood and not leave it unpunished, for the Lord dwells in Zion.
Commentaries
Judgment of the Nations.
This day is depicted as an eschatological judgment against the nations that oppressed God’s people, represented by the Phoenicians and the Philistines. The number of those on trial is so large that the judgment, instead of occurring at the city gates, will be held in the valley of Jehoshaphat, or ‘valley of decision” (4:2; 4:12). Then the Lord will roar from the Sanctuary with power (16) to proclaim that He is the refuge (cf. Ps 46:1; 62:8) and the stronghold of Israel (Ps 18:2; 43:2). Joel’s prophecy concludes with the restoration of God’s people (17-18) and the condemnation of the guilty (20-21).