Created Tuesday 24 June 2014
(52) Joël 3
"1 Want kyk, in dié dae en in dié tyd wanneer Ek die lot van Juda en Jerusalem verander, 2 sal Ek al die nasies versamel en hulle na die dal van Jósafat laat aftrek, om daar met hulle 'n strafgerig te hou ter wille van my volk en my erfdeel Israel wat hulle onder die nasies verstrooi het, en my land wat hulle verdeel het. 3 En oor my volk het hulle die lot gewerp en 'n jong seun weggegee vir 'n hoer en 'n meisie verkoop vir wyn en dit gedrink. 4 En ook, wat het julle met My te doen, o Tirus en Sidon en al die landstreke van Filistéa? Wil julle My iets vergelde, of wil julle My iets aandoen? Gou, ylings sal Ek julle dade op julle hoof laat neerkom. 5 Want julle het my silwer en my goud geneem en my kosbare skatte na julle tempels gebring. 6 Verder het julle die kinders van Juda en die kinders van Jerusalem aan die kinders van Jawan verkoop, om hulle ver van hul grondgebied te verwyder. 7 Kyk, Ek sal hulle laat opstaan uit die plek waarheen julle hulle verkoop het, en julle dade op julle hoof laat neerkom. 8 En Ek sal julle seuns en julle dogters aan die kinders van Juda verkoop, en dié sal hulle verkoop aan die Sabeërs, aan 'n verafgeleë volk want die HERE het dit gespreek. 9 Roep dit uit onder die nasies, heilig 'n oorlog! Wek die helde op, laat al die krygsmanne nader kom, opruk! 10 Smee van julle pikke swaarde en van julle snoeimesse spiese; laat die swakke sê: Ek is 'n held. 11 Haas julle en kom aan, alle nasies rondom, en versamel julle. Laat u helde, HERE, daarheen aftrek! 12 Die nasies moet hulle klaarmaak en optrek na die dal van Jósafat; want daar sal Ek sit om gerig te hou oor al die nasies rondom. 13 Steek die sekel in, want die oes is ryp! Kom trap, want die parskuip is vol, die kuipe loop oor! Want hulle boosheid is groot. 14 Menigtes, menigtes in die dal van beslissing, want naby is die dag van die HERE in die dal van beslissing! 15 Die son en die maan word duister, en die sterre trek hulle glans in. 16 En die HERE brul uit Sion, en uit Jerusalem verhef Hy sy stem, sodat hemel en aarde bewe. Maar die HERE sal 'n toevlug wees vir sy volk en 'n skuilplek vir die kinders van Israel. 17 Dan sal julle weet dat Ek die HERE julle God is, wat woon op Sion, my heilige berg; dan sal Jerusalem 'n heiligdom wees waar geen vreemdes meer deur sal trek nie. 18 En op dié dag sal die berge drup van mos en die heuwels vloei van melk en al die spruitjies van Juda stroom van water; en uit die huis van die HERE sal daar 'n fontein uitkom om die dal Sittim te besproei. 19 Egipte sal 'n woesteny word, en Edom 'n woeste wildernis wees, weens die geweld wat hulle die kinders van Juda aangedoen het, dat hulle onskuldige bloed in hul land vergiet het. 20 Maar Juda sal vir ewig bly, en Jerusalem van geslag tot geslag. 21 En Ek sal hulle bloed onskuldig verklaar, wat Ek tevore nie onskuldig verklaar het nie; en die HERE sal op Sion bly woon."
"For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.
What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will return your payment on your own head. I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”
Proclaim this among the nations:
Consecrate for war;
stir up the mighty men.
Let all the men of war draw near;
let them come up.
Beat your plowshares into swords,
and your pruning hooks into spears;
let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
Hasten and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves there.
Bring down your warriors, O Lord.
Let the nations stir themselves up
and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
for there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
Put in the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Go in, tread,
for the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
for their evil is great.
Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
The Lord roars from Zion,
and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
and the heavens and the earth quake.
But the Lord is a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.
“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and strangers shall never again pass through it.
And in that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
and water the Valley of Shittim.
Egypt shall become a desolation
and Edom a desolate wilderness,
for the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
But Judah shall be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
I will avenge their blood,
blood I have not avenged,
for the Lord dwells in Zion.”"