JOL

Joel 3

1“For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2I 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, 3and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink. 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. 5Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest treasures into your temples, 6and 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. 7Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head; 8and 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.” 9Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up. 10Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ 11Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together.” Cause your mighty ones to come down there, Yahweh. 12“Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.” 14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near in the valley of decision. 15The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. 16Yahweh 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. 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. 18It 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 flow out from Yahweh’s house, and will water the valley of Shittim. 19Egypt 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. 20But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. 21I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed, for Yahweh dwells in Zion.”

Matthew Henry — chapter overview

Introduction

Joel 3

In the close of the foregoing chapter we had a gracious promise of deliverance in Mount Zion and Jerusalem; now this whole chapter is a comment upon that promise, showing what that deliverance shall be, how it shall be wrought by the destruction of the church's enemies, and how it shall be perfected in the everlasting rest and joy of the church. This was in part accomplished in the deliverance of Jerusalem from the attempt that Sennacherib made upon it in Hezekiah's time, and afterwards in the return of the Jews out of their captivity in Babylon, and other deliverances wrought for the Jewish church between that and Christ's coming. But it has a further reference, to the great redemption wrought out for us by Jesus Christ, and the destruction of our spiritual enemies and all their agents, and will have its full accomplishment in the judgment of the great day. Here is a prediction, I. Of God's reckoning with the enemies of his people for all the injuries and indignities that they had done them, and returning them upon their own head (Joe 3:1-8). II. Of God's judging all nations when the measure of their iniquity is full, and appearing publicly, to the everlasting confusion of all impenitent sinners and the everlasting comfort of all his faithful servants (Joe 3:9-17). III. Of the provision God has made for the refreshment of his people, for their safety and purity, when their enemies shall be made desolate (Joe 3:18-21). These promises were not of private interpretation only, but were written for our learning, "that we, through patience and comfort of this scripture, might have hope."

Cross-references: Joel 3:1 · Joel 3:9 · Joel 3:18