God will punish Judah's enemies
1 ‘Listen! At that time, I will cause the people of Judah and Jerusalem to return.
3:1Jerusalem was the capital city of Judah.
They will have success again.
2 Then I will bring all the nations together.
I will take them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
3:2‘Jehoshaphat’ means a place where God judges people.
There I will judge them.
I will punish them
because of what they did to my own people, Israel.
Those nations took my people away
to live among other nations.
They divided my land into parts for themselves.
3 They threw dice to win my people for themselves.
They sold boys to pay for prostitutes.
They sold girls to buy wine to drink.
4 What are you trying to do, you people of Tyre, Sidon and the regions of Philistia? Do you want to pay me back for something that I have done to you? If so, I myself will quickly pay you back with punishment. 5 You took my silver and my gold. You took all my valuable things to put in your own temples. 6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greek people. You sent them far away from their own country.
7 But now I will cause my people to return home. I will bring them back from the places to which you sold them. Then I will do to you what you have done to them. 8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah. And they will sell them to the Sabeans, who live far away.
I, the Lord, have spoken.’
9 Tell this news to the people of all nations:
‘Prepare to fight a war!
Command your soldiers to come together.
Tell them to march forward and attack!
10 Take your ploughs
and make them into swords.
Take your knives that you use to cut your vines
and make them into spears.
Even weak people must fight like strong soldiers.
11 Come quickly, you nations that are all around.
Meet together in the valley.’
Now Lord, send down your army to attack them!
12 ‘All the nations must prepare themselves.
They must march to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
That is where I will sit to judge the nations from all around.
13 Bring your knives to cut down the crops!
They are ready to eat!
Stamp on the grapes!
The winepress is full of them!
There is too much wine for the jars to hold.
Yes, punish those nations
because they are very wicked!’
14 Great crowds of people are in the Valley of Punishment.
It is there that the day of the Lord will soon come.
15 The sun and the moon become dark.
The stars stop shining.
16 The Lord shouts from Zion.
His voice calls loudly from Jerusalem.
The sky and the earth shake.
But the Lord is a place where his people are safe.
He is a strong place for Israel's people.
