1 ARST Listen! It will soon be the time when Yahweh will judge everyone. At that time, you, the people of Jerusalem, will watch your enemies divide what you owned among themselves. BSB BSB: Behold, a day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence.
2 ARST Yes, Yahweh says that he will cause the armies of many nations to attack Jerusalem. They will capture the city, take all the valuable things from your houses, and rape the women. They will take half of the people to other countries, but they will allow the other people to remain in the city. BSB BSB: For I will gather all the nations for battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.
3 ARST But then Yahweh will attack those nations; he will fight as he fought at other times in battle. BSB BSB: Then the LORD will go out to fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle.
4 ARST On that day, he will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives will split into two parts, with a large valley between the parts. Half of the mount will move toward the north, and half will move toward the south. BSB BSB: On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half the mountain moving to the north and half to the south.
6 ARST At that time, there will be no light from the sun, but it will not be cold or frosty. BSB BSB: On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost.
7 ARST Only Yahweh knows when this will happen. There will be no daytime or nighttime, because it will be light all the time, even in the evening. BSB BSB: It will be a unique day known only to the LORD, without day or night; but when evening comes, there will be light.
8 ARST At that time, water will flow from Jerusalem. One stream will flow toward the east to the Dead Sea. The other stream will flow toward the west to the Mediterranean Sea. The water will flow all the time, even during the hot season as well as in the cold season. BSB BSB: And on that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the Eastern Sea and the other half toward the Western Sea, in summer and winter alike.
9 ARST After that time, Yahweh will be the king who rules the entire world. Everyone will know that Yahweh, and only Yahweh, is the true God. BSB BSB: On that day the LORD will become King over all the earth—the LORD alone, and His name alone.
10 ARST At that time, all the land in Judah will be flat, like the plain along the Jordan, from the town of Geba in the north to the town of Rimmon far to the south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem will remain high up, as it has always been. The city will extend northeast from the Benjamin Gate and the Corner Gate, which was the old gate, and to the Tower of Hananel, and then extending to the king’ s winepresses to the southwest. BSB BSB: All the land from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem will be turned into a plain, but Jerusalem will be raised up and will remain in her place, from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses.
11 ARST Many people will live there, and God will never again threaten the city with destruction. It will be a completely safe city to live in. BSB BSB: People will live there, and never again will there be an utter destruction. So Jerusalem will dwell securely.
12 ARST But Yahweh will bring a severe disease on the people groups that attacked Jerusalem. Their flesh will rot while they are still standing up. Their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongues will rot in their mouths. BSB BSB: And this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
13 ARST At that time, Yahweh will cause them to panic. They will grab hold of each other and attack each other. BSB BSB: On that day a great panic from the LORD will come upon them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of one will rise against the other.
14 ARST Even the people who live in other places in Judah will attack Jerusalem. They will collect the valuable things, the plunder, from the surrounding armies of the nations— a lot of gold and silver and clothes. BSB BSB: Judah will also fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance.
15 ARST The same plague that will afflict the people of other nations will afflict the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other work animals in their camps. BSB BSB: And a similar plague will strike the horses and mules, camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.
16 ARST The people of other nations who previously came to fight against Jerusalem, all those who are still alive, will return to Jerusalem every year to worship the King, Yahweh, the Commander of the angel armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters. BSB BSB: Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
17 ARST If there are people in those nations who do not go to Jerusalem to worship there, rain will not fall on their land. BSB BSB: And should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, then the rain will not fall on them.
18 ARST If the people of Egypt do not go to Jerusalem, they will not have any rain. And Yahweh will cause them to suffer the same plague that afflicted the people of other nations that do not celebrate the Festival of Shelters. BSB BSB: And if the people of Egypt will not go up and enter in, then the rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
19 ARST That is how Yahweh will punish the people of Egypt and the people of any other nation who do not go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Shelters. BSB BSB: This will be the punishment of Egypt and of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
20 ARST At that time, the words“Dedicated to Yahweh” will be written on the bells that are fastened to the horses. The cooking pots in the courtyard of the temple will belong to Yahweh, like the bowls that are in front of the altar. BSB BSB: On that day, HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the house of the LORD will be like the sprinkling bowls before the altar.
21 ARST Every pot in Jerusalem and everywhere else in Judah will be dedicated to Yahweh, the Commander of the angel armies. So everyone who offers sacrifices there in Jerusalem will be able to take some of the meat that has been brought for sacrifices and cook it in their own pots. And at that time, people will no longer buy or sell things in the courtyard of the temple of Yahweh, the Commander of the angel armies. BSB BSB: Indeed, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD of Hosts, and all who sacrifice will come and take some pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of Hosts.