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Joel 3

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1 For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and divided my land.

3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

4 Yes, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense upon your own head;

5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things.

6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold to the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head:

8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:

10 Beat your plow-shares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together around: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.

12 Let the heathen be awakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen on every side.

13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, go down; for the 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 shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

16 The LORD also will roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but The LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

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

20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Scriptural Confirmations #55

  
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55. 27. A nation is come up upon my land and hath laid waste my vine (Joel 1:6-7.)

(Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, as vastation from the thunderer shall it come. The storehouses are devastated, the garners are destroyed, even the flocks of sheep are made desolate, the fire hath devoured the habitations of the wilderness (Joel 1:15-20).)

Before Him the earth was moved, the heavens trembled, the sun and moon were blackened, and the stars withdrew their shining. Jehovah uttered His voice before His army, for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; who shall abide it? (Joel 2:10-11.)

Afterwards the great and terrible day is treated of (Joel 2:1-11). The coming of Jehovah and then the New Church, is treated of (12-27) and it is said that it shall come to pass afterwards, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh so that your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, etc. (2:28), and it is said, the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come. But it shall come to pass that everyone who shall call upon the name of Jehovah shall be delivered, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be escape (2:31-32).

Heaps, heaps in the valley of decision, for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon were blackened and the stars withdrew their shining. Jehovah shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem so that the heavens and the earth shall shake, but Jehovah will be the refuge of His people; then will Jerusalem be holiness. It shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop down must, and the hills shall flow with milk. Judah shall dwell forever and Jerusalem to the generation of generations (Joel 3:14-20).

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.