Chapter 3

1 For, behold in those days, and at that time, When I shall restore the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will then gather all the nations, and bring them down to the valley of Jehosaphat; And I will there contend with them, For my people and for my heritage Israel; Because they have scattered them among the nations,

2 And divided my land, and on my people cast lots, And have given a boy for a harlot, And have sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

3 And yet, what have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the borders of Palestine? Will ye recompense return to me?

4 Now if ye repay me with this, Quickly—suddenly will I return Your recompense on your own head.

5 Because ye have taken away my silver and my gold, And my desirable things have removed to your temples,

6 And have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem To the children of the Grecians, That ye might drive them far from their own borders;—

7 Behold, I will raise them from the place to which ye have sold them, And will return your recompense on your head;

8 For I will sell your sons and your daughters to the children of Judah, And they shall sell them to the Sabeans, a distant nation; For thus hath Jehovah spoken.

9 Publish this among the nations, Proclaim a war, rouse the strong, Let them come, let them ascend, all the men of war:

10 Beat your plowshares into swords, And your pruning-hooks into spears; Let the weak say, “I am strong.”

11 Assemble and come all ye nations, Assemble all around; There will Jehovah lay prostrate all thy valiant ones.

12 Awake let the nations, and ascend to the valley of Jehosaphat; For there will I sit to judge all the nations around.

13 Put forth the sickle, for ripened has the harvest; Come, go down, for full is the wine-press, Overflowing are the vats, For multiplied has their wickedness.

14 Nations! Nations! In the valley of the sledge; For nigh is Jehovah’s day in the valley of the sledge: The sun and the moon shall be darkened, And the stars shall withdraw their brightness;

15 And Jehovah from Zion shall roar, And from Jerusalem shall utter his voice, And tremble shall the heavens and the earth;

16 But Jehovah will be a hope to his people, And a strength to the children of Israel:

17 Then ye shall know that I Jehovah am your God, Dwelling in Zion, the mount of my holiness; And Jerusalem shall be holiness, And aliens shall pass through it no more.

18 And it shall be in that day, That distill new wine shall the mountains, And the hills shall cause milk to run down, And all the rivers of Judah shall send forth waters; A fountain also from the house of Jehovah shall go forth, And it shall water the valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt shall be a solitude, And Edom shall be a desert of solitude, For the outrage done to the children of Judah, Because they shed innocent blood in their own land:

20 But Judah shall forever safely dwell, And Jerusalem shall be from age to age; And I will cleanse their blood which I have not cleansed, And Jehovah shall dwell in Zion.