3:1 ¹  For look! In those ²  days and at that time

I will return the exiles ³  to Judah and Jerusalem. ⁴ 

3:2 Then I will gather all the nations,

and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. ⁵ 

I will enter into judgment ⁶  against them there

concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance, ⁷ 

whom they scattered among the nations.

They partitioned my land,

3:3 and they cast lots for my people.

They traded ⁸  a boy for a prostitute;

they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink. ⁹ 

3:4 Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon? ¹⁰ 

Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia? ¹¹ 

I will very quickly repay you for what you have done! ¹² 

3:5 For you took my silver and my gold

and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces. ¹³ 

3:6 You sold Judeans and Jerusalemites to the Greeks,

removing them far from their own country. ¹⁴ 

3:7 Look! I am rousing them from that place to which you sold them.

I will repay you for what you have done! ¹⁵ 

3:8 I will sell your sons and daughters to ¹⁶  the people of Judah. ¹⁷ 

They will sell them to the Sabeans, ¹⁸  a nation far away.

Indeed, the Lord has spoken!

3:9 Proclaim this among the nations:

“Prepare for a holy war!

Call out the warriors!

Let all these fighting men approach and attack! ¹⁹ 

3:10 Beat your plowshares ²⁰  into swords,

and your pruning hooks ²¹  into spears! ²² 

Let the weak say, ‘I too am a warrior!’ ²³ 

3:11 Lend your aid ²⁴  and come,

all you surrounding nations,

and gather yourselves ²⁵  to that place.”

Bring down, O Lord, your warriors! ²⁶ 

3:12 Let the nations be roused and let them go up

to the valley of Jehoshaphat,

for there I will sit in judgment on all the surrounding nations.

3:13 Rush forth with ²⁷  the sickle, for the harvest is ripe!

Come, stomp the grapes, ²⁸  for the winepress is full!

The vats overflow.

Indeed, their evil is great! ²⁹ 

3:14 Crowds, great crowds are in the valley of decision,

for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision! ³⁰ 

3:15 The sun and moon are darkened;

the stars withhold ³¹  their brightness.

3:16 The Lord roars from Zion;

from Jerusalem ³²  his voice bellows out. ³³ 

The heavens ³⁴  and the earth shake.

But the Lord is a refuge for his people;

he is a stronghold for the citizens ³⁵  of Israel.

3:17 You will be convinced ³⁶  that I the Lord am your God,

dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain.

Jerusalem ³⁷  will be holy –

conquering armies ³⁸  will no longer pass through it.

3:18 On that day ³⁹  the mountains will drip with sweet wine, ⁴⁰ 

and the hills will flow with milk. ⁴¹ 

All the dry stream beds ⁴²  of Judah will flow with water.

A spring will flow out from the temple ⁴³  of the Lord,

watering the Valley of Acacia Trees. ⁴⁴ 

3:19 Egypt will be desolate

and Edom will be a desolate wilderness,

because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, ⁴⁵ 

in whose land they shed innocent blood.

3:20 But Judah will reside securely forever,

and Jerusalem will be secure ⁴⁶  from one generation to the next.

3:21 I will avenge ⁴⁷  their blood which I had not previously acquitted.

It is the Lord who dwells in Zion!