Joel 3

1 “For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land,

3 and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

4 “Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you repay me? And if you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head.

5 Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest treasures into your temples,

6 and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border.

7 Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head;

8 and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for the LORD has spoken it.”

9 Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up.

10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’

11 Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together.” Cause your mighty ones to come down there, LORD.

12 “Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

13 Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.”

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

15 The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

16 The LORD will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but the LORD will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.

17 “So you will know that I am the LORD, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.

18 It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters; and a fountain will flow out from the LORD’s house, and will water the valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt will be a desolation and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

20 But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed, for the LORD dwells in Zion.”

Around Joel 3

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

About Joel as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

The fields are bare. “What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten”, and the next swarm has eaten what that one left. Joel begins with a plague of locusts that has stripped the land, and he reads it as a warning of the day of the LORD. He calls everyone, from priests to children, to return to God with their whole heart. “Tear your heart and not your garments,” he says.

God answers with a promise to restore what the locusts have eaten, and beyond that to pour out his Spirit on all people, young and old, men and women. The words are: “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh”.

Background

The book gives no date and names no king, so proposals range over several centuries. Joel is one of the twelve shorter prophetic books that Jewish tradition counts together as one scroll. Because nothing fixes its time, its message stays open to every generation that reads it.

How Christians read it

On the day of Pentecost, Peter explains what is happening by quoting Joel’s promise of the Spirit (Acts 2). Christians therefore read that promise as fulfilled in the church. The day of the LORD in the prophets is both judgment and rescue, and Joel holds the two together. The call to return rests on who God is, gracious and merciful and slow to anger, so the book reads both as a sober warning and as an open door.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 20 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

Report a mistake

CommunityVoices, not sources

Readers share what this chapter means to them in the app.

See what readers say about Joel 3

World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes