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1 For, behold, in those days and at that time, when I shall have turned the captivity of Juda and Jerusalem, 2 I will also gather all the *Gentiles, and bring them down to the valley of Josaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and my heritage Israel, who have been dispersed among the Gentiles; and these Gentiles have divided my land, 3 and cast lots over my people, and have given their boys to harlots, and sold their girls for wine, and have drunk.
4 And what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all Galilee of the †Gentiles? do ye render me a recompense? or do ye bear malice against me? quickly and speedily will I return your recompense on your own heads: 5 because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and ye have brought my choice ornaments into your temples; 6 and ye have sold the children of Juda and the children of Jerusalem to the children of the Greeks, that ye might expel them from their coasts. 7 Therefore, behold, I will raise them up out of the place whither ye have sold them, and I will return your recompense on your own heads. 8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Juda, and they shall sell them into captivity to a far distant nation: for the Lord has spoken it.
9 Proclaim these things among the Gentiles; ‡declare war, arouse the warriors, draw near and go up, all ye men of war.
10 Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your sickles into §spears: let the weak say, I am strong. 11 Gather yourselves together, and go in, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves there: let the **timid become a warrior. 12 Let them be aroused, let all the nations go up to the valley of Josaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the Gentiles round about.
13 Bring forth the sickles, for the vintage is come: go in, tread the grapes, for the press is full: cause the vats to overflow; for their wickedness is multiplied. 14 Noises have resounded in the valley of judgment: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of judgment. 15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their light.
16 And the Lord shall cry out of Sion, and shall utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heaven and the earth shall be shaken, but the Lord shall spare his people, and shall strengthen the children of Israel. 17 And ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwell in Sion my holy mountain: and Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall not pass through her any more.
18 And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the ††fountains of Juda shall flow with water, and a fountain shall go forth of the house of the Lord, and water the valley of flags.
19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Idumea shall be a desolate plain, because of the wrongs of the children of Juda, because they have shed righteous blood in their land. 20 But Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to all generations. 21 And I will make inquisition for their blood, and will by no means leave it unavenged: and the Lord shall dwell in Sion.
* 4:2 Or, nations. See Mat. 25. 31. † 4:4 ἀλλοφυλων, usually Philistines. ‡ 4:9 Gr. sanctify. § 4:10 Or, daggers. ** 4:11 Gr. meek. †† 4:18 See chap 1. 20.