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Joel 3

KJV · Chapter 3/3

1For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

2I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

3And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

4Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;

5Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

6The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

7Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:

8And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the Lord hath spoken it.

9Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:

10Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

11Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.

12Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.

13Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

15The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

16The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

17So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

18And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

19Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

20But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God promises to judge the nations that mistreated His people, gathering them in the Valley of Jehoshaphat for a final judgment, while Judah and Jerusalem will be restored and prosper forever.

Explanation

Joel's final chapter shifts its focus from Judah to the surrounding nations — Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Egypt, and Edom — who took advantage of Judah's weakness to plunder its riches and sell its people into slavery. The 'Valley of Jehoshaphat' (a name meaning 'the LORD judges') is a symbolic location, not necessarily a geographic one, representing God's final judgment on the injustice of the nations. The image of beating plowshares into swords appears here in reverse (unlike Isaiah 2:4, here the farming tools become weapons, for it is a time of war and judgment). The chapter closes with a vision of lasting peace and extraordinary fruitfulness. Today's lesson: God does not overlook the injustice suffered by His people, and final justice is guaranteed, even when it is delayed.

Fun facts

  • The 'valley of decision' (v.14) is likely the same Valley of Jehoshaphat mentioned earlier in the chapter — the name reinforces that there the nations will face God's definitive verdict.
  • The description of children being traded 'for wine' and 'for a harlot' (v.3) points to human trafficking in antiquity, showing that the exploitation of vulnerable people in times of war has been an injustice condemned by God since the earliest times.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Joel 3:1Opens the book's final scene: at the time when God restores Judah and Jerusalem from captivity, a judgment of the nations will take place.
  2. Joel 3:2'The valley of Jehoshaphat' literally means 'the Lord judges' — it's more a symbolic name for the judgment scene than a geographic location that can be pinned to a map with certainty.
  3. Joel 3:3Selling a child for wine or trading a boy for a woman are images of human trafficking in ancient warfare, showing how badly the enemy nations treated the people of Judah, as disposable merchandise.
  4. Joel 3:4God addresses Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia directly, asking why they treated His people so badly, warning that the bill will come back on them fast.
  5. Joel 3:5These nations plundered Judah's silver and gold and put the treasures in their own pagan temples, as spoils of war.
  6. Joel 3:6An accusation of human trafficking: they sold the children of Judah and Jerusalem as slaves to Greek merchants, sending them far from home.
  7. Joel 3:7God promises to rescue these enslaved people and make the same injustice fall back on the heads of those who committed the crime.
  8. Joel 3:8A reversal of retributive justice: the children of these nations will be sold by Judah to a distant nation, the same fate they had imposed on others.
  9. Joel 3:9An ironic summons to the nations to prepare for a war that is already decided against them — God Himself calls them to their own judgment.
  10. Joel 3:10'Beat your plowshares into swords' deliberately reverses the more famous image of turning swords into plowshares (used in Isaiah and Micah): here, instead, it's a sarcastic call to the nations to go to war, already knowing they will lose.
  11. Joel 3:11Continues the ironic summons to the neighboring nations, while the prophet asks God to bring His forces to this final confrontation.
  12. Joel 3:12The nations are gathered in the valley of Jehoshaphat — a name meaning 'the Lord judges' — precisely so God can judge them there.
  13. Joel 3:13An agricultural image of harvest and grape-treading used to describe the judgment: the wickedness of these nations is already 'ripe' enough to be cut down.
  14. Joel 3:14Crowds gathered in the 'valley of decision,' another name for the valley of Jehoshaphat, at the decisive moment of God's judgment.
  15. Joel 3:15Repeats the cosmic language of darkness — sun, moon, and stars darkened — already used in chapter 2, marking the seriousness of this final judgment.
  16. Joel 3:16God 'roars' like a lion from Zion, shaking the heavens and the earth, but at the same time He is a safe refuge for His own people — judgment for the nations, protection for Israel.
  17. Joel 3:17A promise that Jerusalem will become a fully sacred place, free of the presence of foreign invaders once and for all.
  18. Joel 3:18'The mountains shall drop down new wine' is an image of extreme abundance, almost of a restored paradise — a harvest so good it seems to spring from the land itself without effort.
  19. Joel 3:19Egypt and Edom, nations that shed the innocent blood of Judah, will be turned into a desert as punishment for the violence they committed.
  20. Joel 3:20A final contrast: while the enemies are destroyed, Judah and Jerusalem will remain inhabited forever, from generation to generation.
  21. Joel 3:21The book's last verse: God promises to forgive His people's still-unforgiven bloodguilt, and closes with the promise to dwell in Zion for good.

Chapters

123

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