Joel 4:12-21
Chapter 4
Bring a sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come and tread, for the wine-press 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.
And 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).