rd

Joel 3

Of the judgement of God against the enemies of his people.
1.For behold, in athose daies and in that time, when I shal bring again the captivity of Judáh and Jerusalém,
2.I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the bvalley of Jehoshaphát, and will plead with them there for my people, and for mine heritage Israél, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
3.And they have cast lots for my people, and have given the child cfor the harlot, and sold the girl for wine, that they might drink.
4.Yea, and what dhave you to do with me, ô Tyrus and Zidón and all the coasts of Palestina? will ye render me aa recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily, will I render your recompense upon your head:
5.For ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodlie and pleasant things.
6.The children also of Judáh and the children of Jerusalém have you sold unto the Grecians, that ye might send them far from their border.
7.Behold, I will raise them out of the place where ye have sold them, and will render your reward upon your own head,
8.And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judáh, and they fshal sell them to the Sabeans, to a people farreof: for the Lord him self hath spoken it.
9.Publish this among the Gentiles: prepare war, wake up the mightie men: let all the men of war draw near and come up.
10.gBreak your plowshares into swords, and your sieths into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
11.Assemble your selves, and come all ye heathen and gather your selves together round about: there shal the Lord cast down thy mightie men.
12.Let the heathen be wakened, & come up to the valley of Jehoshaphát: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
13.Put in your hsieths, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down, for the winepress is full: yea, the winepresses run over, for their wickedness is great.
14.O multitude, ô multitude, come into the valley of threshing: for the daie of the Lord is near in the valley of threshing.
15.The sun and moon shalbe darkened, and the stars shal withdraw their light.
16.The Lord also shal roar out of Zión, and utter his voice from Jerusalém, and the heavens, and the earth shal shake, but the Lord wilbe the hope iof his people, and the strength of the children of Israél.
17.So shal ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zión, mine holie Mountain: then shal Jerusalém be holy, and there shal no strangers go kthrough her any more.
18.And in that daie shal the mountains ldrop down new wine, and the hills shal flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judáh shal run with waters, and a fountain shal come forth of the House of the Lord, and shal water the valley of Shittim.
19.mEgypt shalbe waste, and Edóm shalbe a desolate wilderness, for the injuries of the children of Judáh, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20.But Judáh shal dwell for ever, and Jerusalém from generation to generation.
21.For I will ncleanse their blood, that I have not cleansed, and the Lord will dwell in Zión

Notes

1-a.
When I shall deliver my Church, which stands of the Jews, and of the Gentiles.
1-b.
It appears that he alludes to that great victory of Jehoshaphat, when as God without man’s help destroyed the enemies, 2 Chron. 20.6-29, also he has respect to this word, Jehoshaphat, which signifies pleading or judgement, because God would judge the enemies of his Church as he did there.
3-c.
That which the enemy got for the sale of my people, he bestowed it upon harlots and drink.
4-d.
He takes the cause of his Church in hand against the enemy, as though the injury were done to himself.
4-e.
Have I done you wrong, that you will render me the like?
8-f.
For afterward God sold them by Nebuchad-nezzar, and Alexander the great, for the love he bare to his people, and thereby they were comforted as though the price had been theirs.
10-g.
When I shall execute my judgements against mine enemies, I will cause every one to be ready, and to prepare their weapons to destroy one another, for my Church sake.
13-h.
Thus he shall encourage the enemies when their wickedness is full ripe to destroy one another, which he calls the valley of God’s judgement.
16-i.
God assures his against all troubles, that when he destroys his enemies, his children shall be delivered.
17-k.
The strangers shall no more destroy his Church: which if they do, it is the people which by their sins make the breach for the enemy.
18-l.
He promises to his Church abundance of graces, read Ezek. 47.1, which should water and comfort the most barren places, Amos 9.13.
19-m.
The malicious enemies shall have no part of this grace.
21-n.
He had suffered his Church hitherto to lie in their filthiness, but now he promises to cleanse them and to make them pure unto him.