1 ARST Yahweh says this:“At that time, I will bring back the people whom their enemies took away from Jerusalem and from other places in Judah. BSB BSB: “Yes, in those days and at that time, when I restore Judah and Jerusalem from captivity,
2 ARST Then in the Valley of Jehoshaphat I will gather together the people of all the other nations; I will judge and punish them because they scattered my Israelite people and forced them to go to other countries, and because they divided up my land among themselves. BSB BSB: I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning My people, My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations as they divided up My land.
3 ARST They played games of chance to determine who would get each of my people. Then they sold some of the Israelite boys and girls to get money to pay for prostitutes and wine to drink. BSB BSB: They cast lots for My people; they bartered a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine to drink.
4 ARST You people of the cities of Tyre and Sidon, and you people of Philistia— you are angry at me, but you have no reason to be. If you are trying to get revenge on me, I will very quickly get revenge on you. BSB BSB: Now what do you have against Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering against Me a recompense? If you retaliate against Me, I will swiftly and speedily return your recompense upon your heads.
5 ARST You took the silver and gold and other valuable things from my temple and put them into your own temples. BSB BSB: For you took My silver and gold and carried off My finest treasures to your temples.
6 ARST You dragged away the people of Jerusalem and other places in Judah, and you took them far away and sold them to Greek traders. BSB BSB: You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, to send them far from their homeland.
7 ARST But I will make it possible for my people to return from the places to which you sold them, and I will do to you what you did to them. BSB BSB: Behold, I will rouse them from the places to which you sold them; I will return your recompense upon your heads.
8 ARST Then I will cause some of your sons and your daughters to be sold to the people of Judah! And they will be sold to the Sabea people group, who live far away. That will certainly happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.” BSB BSB: I will sell your sons and daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans—to a distant nation.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.
9 ARST Proclaim to the people of all nations,“Prepare for a war! Summon your soldiers; tell them to stand in their battle positions. BSB BSB: Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war; rouse the mighty men; let all the men of war advance and attack!
10 ARST Take your plows and make swords from them; take your pruning knives and make spears from them. Even the weak people must also say they are strong soldiers. BSB BSB: Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’
11 ARST All you people from the nations that are near Judah must come quickly and gather there.” But Yahweh, when that happens, send your army of angels to attack them! BSB BSB: Come quickly, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves. Bring down Your mighty ones, O LORD.
12 ARST Yahweh says,“The people in the nations near Judah must get ready and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will sit as a judge, and I will punish them. BSB BSB: Let the nations be roused and advance to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit down to judge all the nations on every side.
13 ARST They are like crops that are ready to be harvested; so strike them as a farmer swings his sickle to cut the grain. They are like grapes that are piled high in the pits where they will be pressed; because they are very wicked, punish them severely now, as a farmer tramples on the grapes until the pits overflow with juice.” BSB BSB: Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because their wickedness is great.
14 ARST There will be the noise of huge crowds of people in that Valley of Judgment. It will soon be the time that Yahweh will punish them. BSB BSB: Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the Day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15 ARST At that time there will be no light from the sun or moon, and the stars will not shine. BSB BSB: The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine.
16 ARST From Mount Zion in Jerusalem Yahweh will shout; his voice will be like thunder, and his voice will cause the sky and the earth to shake. But Yahweh will protect his people; he will be like a strong wall behind which the people of Israel will be protected. BSB BSB: The LORD will roar from Zion and raise His voice from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.
17 ARST Yahweh says,“At that time, you Israelite people will know that I am Yahweh, your God. I live on Zion, the hill I have set apart for myself. Jerusalem will be a city very special to me, and soldiers from other countries will never conquer it again. BSB BSB: Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, never again to be overrun by foreigners.
18 ARST At that time, there will be vineyards covering the hills, and your cattle and goats on those hills will produce plenty of milk. The streams in Judah will never dry up, And a stream will flow from my temple into the Valley of Acacia northeast of the Dead Sea. BSB BSB: And in that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the streams of Judah will run with water, and a spring will flow from the house of the LORD to water the Valley of Acacias.
19 ARST The armies of Egypt and Edom attacked the people of Judah and killed many people who had not done anything that was wrong. So now those countries will be ruined, with no one living there any longer. BSB BSB: Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.
20 ARST But there will always be people living in Jerusalem and in other places in Judea. BSB BSB: But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21 ARST I, Yahweh, live on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and I will get revenge on the people of Egypt and Edom who killed many of my people.” BSB BSB: For I will avenge their blood, which I have not yet avenged.” For the LORD dwells in Zion.