Die Propheten
The Judgment of the Nations in the Valley of Jehoshaphat
The Lord announces that he will restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem and gather all nations to the Valley of Jehoshaphat to judge them. Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Egypt, and Edom are accused of violence against Israel, for scattering the people, dividing the land, and selling the children of Judah. The Lord calls for holy war: plowshares are beaten into swords, sickles are raised, and winepresses are trodden, for evil is great. On the day of judgment the sun and moon grow dark while the Lord roars from Zion. He is a refuge for his people, and the land will flow with wine and milk, while a spring flows out from the house of the Lord.
Joel 4,1-21
1For look — in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment with them over my people, my inheritance Israel, whom they scattered among the nations, and over my land, which they divided up.
3They cast lots for my people; they traded a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine, and drank it down.
4And what are you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all you regions of Philistia? Would you repay me for something? If you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily turn your payment back on your own heads.
5For you took my silver and my gold, and carried my finest treasures into your temples.
6You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, to remove them far from their own land.
7Now I am rousing them from the place where you sold them, and I will turn your payment back on your own heads.
8I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away — for the LORD has spoken.
9Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men advance and march up.
10Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, "I am a warrior."
11Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations; gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD!
12Let the nations rouse themselves and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
13Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winepress is full; the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.
14Crowds upon crowds in the Valley of Decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the Valley of Decision.
15The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars withhold their shining.
16The LORD roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; heaven and earth tremble. But the LORD is a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the children of Israel.
17Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will never overrun her again.
18On that day the mountains will drip with new wine, the hills will flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah will run with water. A spring will flow from the house of the LORD and water the Valley of Acacias.[^1]
[^1]: Hebrew *Nahal ha-Shittim*, "the wadi of the acacias," a dry desert ravine — a striking image of barren land made fruitful.
19Egypt will become a wasteland and Edom a desolate desert, because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, shedding innocent blood in their land.
20But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem through all generations.
21I will avenge their blood, which I have not yet avenged. And the LORD dwells in Zion.