9. Proclaim this among the nations:Prepare for war!Rouse the warriors!Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
10. Beat your ploughshares into swordsand your pruning hooks into spears.Let the weakling say,‘I am strong!’
11. Come quickly, all you nations from every side,and assemble there.Bring down your warriors, Lord!
12. ‘Let the nations be roused;let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,for there I will sitto judge all the nations on every side.
13. Swing the sickle,for the harvest is ripe.Come, trample the grapes,for the winepress is fulland the vats overflow –so great is their wickedness!’
14. Multitudes, multitudesin the valley of decision!For the day of the Lord is nearin the valley of decision.
15. The sun and moon will be darkened,and the stars no longer shine.
16. The Lord will roar from Zionand thunder from Jerusalem;the earth and the heavens will tremble.But the Lord will be a refuge for his people,a stronghold for the people of Israel.
17. ‘Then you will know that I, the Lord your God,dwell in Zion, my holy hill.Jerusalem will be holy;never again will foreigners invade her.
18. ‘In that day the mountains will drip new wine,and the hills will flow with milk;all the ravines of Judah will run with water.A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s houseand will water the valley of acacias.
19. But Egypt will be desolate,Edom a desert waste,because of violence done to the people of Judah,in whose land they shed innocent blood.
20. Judah will be inhabited for everand Jerusalem through all generations.
21. Shall I leave their innocent blood unavenged?No, I will not.’Footnotes for the Book of Joela 18,19 Or Lord will be jealous … / and take pity … / 19The Lord will replyb 25 The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.c 32 In Hebrew texts 2:28-32 is numbered 3:1-5.