I will punish the nations
1The Lord said:
‘At that time I will be good
to the people in Judah and Jerusalem.
2I will call all the nations
to come together and I will take them
to the Jehoshaphat Valley.
I will punish the nations there
because of what they have done
to my people, the Israelites,
because they belong to Me.
The other nations have taken away
my people to other lands
and they have taken my land for themselves.
3They made my people slaves
and they drew_lots to see
who would get a slave.
They sold my sons and daughters
to get prostitutes and wine.
4And you, people of Tyre and Sidon
and all the people of the Philistine Land,
what do you want to do with Me?
Do you want to punish Me
because I have done bad things to you?
If you want to punish Me, I will not wait.
I will immediately do the same to you.
I will punish you
for everything that you have done wrong.
5You have taken my silver and gold.
You have taken the most beautiful things
in my temple to your temples.
6You have sold the people of Judah
and Jerusalem to the Greeks,
and they are far away from their land.
7Now I will bring my people back
from all the places where they were taken
when you sold them.
I will punish you for all
that you have done to my people.
8I will sell your sons and daughters
to the people of Judah
and they will sell them to the people of Sheba,
to people who live far from here.’
This is what the Lord said.
I am the Lord your God
9You must shout to the nations and say:
‘You must prepare and go to war.
Call the soldiers.
All the soldiers must come and fight.
10You must make swords and spears
from your plough-blades and the knives
that you use to cut off branches.
Even the men who are not strong
must also say: “We are soldiers.”
11Come quickly, you nations
who live near Israel,
come together in the valley.
The Lord will also bring his soldiers
to attack them.
12The nations must come
to the Jehoshaphat Valley.
I will be the Judge there.
I will punish the nations that live there.
13Now is the time to punish them.
The nations are like ripe wheat.
Bring the sickle and cut them off.
Trample the grapes because
the wine-press is full. It is flowing over.
There are many bad people
and I will punish them.
14There will be many people at the place
where God will judge the nations.
The day_of_the_Lord is near,
when He will judge the people.
15The sun and the moon will become dark,
and the stars will not shine.
16The Lord will speak loudly from Jerusalem,
as loudly as a lion that roars.
Heaven and earth will tremble,
but the Lord will protect his people.
The Israelites will be safe with Him.
17Then you will know that I,
the Lord, live on Mount_Zion.
I am the Lord your God
and Zion is my holy_mountain.
Jerusalem will be a holy city.
Enemies will never again go through the city.’
All will be well
18‘On that day all will be well.
There will be a lot of wine and milk.
It will flow down the mountains and the hills.
There will be water in all the small rivers
in Judah and water will flow
from a fountain in the temple of the Lord.
It will give water to the Valley of Acacia Trees.
19No one will live in Egypt,
and Edom will become a desert.
Nothing will be able to live there,
because the people of Egypt and Edom
have done very cruel things
to the people of Judah,
and they have killed a lot of them.
20But there will always be people
living in Judah and Jerusalem.
21I will punish the people
whom I have not punished before.
I will punish them because they killed people,
and I, the Lord, live in Jerusalem.’
