3:1 1 For look! In those2 days and at that time

I will return the exiles3 to Judah and Jerusalem.4

3:2 Then I will gather all the nations,

and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.5

I will enter into judgment6 against them there

concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance,7

whom they scattered among the nations.

They partitioned my land,

3:3 and they cast lots for my people.

They traded8 a boy for a prostitute;

they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink.9

3:4 Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon?10

Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia?11

I will very quickly repay you for what you have done.12

3:5 For you took my silver and my gold

and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces.13

3:6 You sold Judeans and Jerusalemites to the Greeks,

removing them far from their own country.14

3:7 Look! I am rousing them from that place to which you sold them.

I will repay you for what you have done.15

3:8 I will sell your sons and daughters to16 the people of Judah.17

They will sell them to the Sabeans,18 a nation far away.

Indeed, the LORD has spoken!

Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat

3:9 Proclaim this among the nations:

“Prepare for a holy war!

Call out the warriors!

Let all these fighting men approach and attack!19

3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords,

and your pruning hooks into spears.20

Let the weak say, ‘I too am a warrior!’21

3:11 Lend your aid22 and come,

all you surrounding nations,

and gather yourselves23 to that place.”

Bring down, O LORD, your warriors!24

3:12 Let the nations be roused and let them go up

to the valley of Jehoshaphat,

for there I will sit in judgment on all the surrounding nations.

3:13 Rush forth with25 the sickle, for the harvest is ripe!

Come, stomp the grapes,26 for the winepress is full!

The vats overflow.

Indeed, their evil is great!27

3:14 Crowds, great crowds are in the valley of decision,

for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision!28

3:15 The sun and moon are darkened;

the stars withhold29 their brightness.

3:16 The LORD roars from Zion;

from Jerusalem30 he sounds forth his voice.

The heavens31 and the earth shake.

But the LORD is a refuge for his people;

he is a stronghold for the citizens32 of Israel.

The LORD’s Presence in Zion

3:17 You will be convinced33 that I the LORD am your God,

dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain.

Jerusalem34 will be holy—

conquering armies35 will no longer pass through it.

3:18 On that day36 the mountains will drip with sweet wine,37

and the hills will flow with milk.38

All the dry stream beds39 of Judah will flow with water.

A spring will flow out from the temple40 of the LORD,

watering the valley of acacia trees.41

3:19 Egypt will be desolate

and Edom will be a desolate wilderness,

because of the violence they did to the people of Judah,42

in whose land they shed innocent blood.

3:20 But Judah will reside securely forever,

and Jerusalem will be secure43 from one generation to the next.

3:21 And I will avenge44 their blood which I had not previously acquitted.

It is the LORD who dwells in Zion!