Joel Chapter 3
From The Open Bible Project
3:1 "For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
- (a) When I will deliver my Church, which consists of both Jews and Gentiles.
3:2 I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land,
- (b) It appears that he alludes to the great victory of Jehoshaphat, whom God used without man’s help to destroy the enemies, (2 Chronicles 20:20-26); also he is referring to this word Jehoshaphat, which signifies pleading or judgment, because God would judge the enemies of his Church, as he did there.
3:3 and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
- (c) That which the enemy received for the sale of my people, they bestowed upon harlots and drink.
3:4 "Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you repay me? And if you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head.
- (d) He takes the cause of his Church in hand against the enemy, as though the injury were done to himself.
- (e) Have I done you wrong, that you will render me the same?
3:5 Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest treasures into your temples,
3:6 and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border.
3:7 Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head;
3:8 and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for Yahweh has spoken it."
- (f) For afterward God sold them by Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander the Great, because of the love he had for his people, and by this they were comforted, as though they themselves had sold them.
3:9 Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up.
3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'
- (g) When I will execute my judgments against my enemies, I will cause everyone to be ready, and to prepare their weapons to destroy one another, for my Church’s sake.
3:11 Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together." Cause your mighty ones to come down there, Yahweh.
3:12 "Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
3:13 Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winepress is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great."
- (h) In this way he will encourage the enemies when their wickedness is completely ripe to destroy one another, which he calls the valley of God’s judgment.
3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near, in the valley of decision.
3:15 The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
3:16 Yahweh will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but Yahweh will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.
- (i) God assures his own against all trouble, that when he destroys his enemies, his children will be delivered.
3:17 "So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.
- (k) The strangers will no longer destroy his Church: and if they do, it is the fault of the people, who by their sins make the breach for the enemy.
3:18 It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters, and a fountain will come forth from the house of Yahweh, and will water the valley of Shittim.
- (l) He promises to his Church abundance of graces, See Geneva, which would water and comfort the most barren places; (Amos 9:13).
3:19 Egypt will be a desolation, and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
- (m) The malicious enemies will have no part of these graces.
3:20 But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
3:21 I will cleanse their blood, that I have not cleansed: for Yahweh dwells in Zion."
- (n) He had allowed his Church before this to lie in their filthiness, but now he promises to cleanse them and to make them pure unto himself.
