Joel 3 - Legacy Standard Bible

Joel 3

Yahweh Will Judge the Nations

“For behold, in those days and at that time,

When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

I will gather all the nations

And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.

Then I will enter into judgment with them there

On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,

Whom they have scattered among the nations;

And they have divided up My land.

They have also cast lots for My people,

Traded a boy for a harlot,

And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.

4 Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your head. 5 Since you have taken My silver and My gold, brought My desirable treasures to your temples, 6 and sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks in order to remove them far from their borders, 7 behold, I am going to rouse them from the place where you have sold them and return your recompense on your head. 8 Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation,” for Yahweh has spoken. 9

Call out this message among the nations:

Set yourselves apart for a war; rouse the mighty men!

Let all the men of war approach, let them come up!

Beat your plowshares into swords

And your pruning hooks into spears;

Let the weak say, “I am a mighty man.”

Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations,

And gather yourselves.

There, bring down, O Yahweh, Your mighty ones.

Let the nations be roused up

And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,

For there I will sit to judge

All the surrounding nations.

Send in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.

Come, tread, for the wine press is full;

The vats overflow, for their evil is great.

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!

For the day of Yahweh is near in the valley of decision.

The sun and moon grow dark,

And the stars lose their brightness.

And Yahweh roars from Zion

And gives forth His voice from Jerusalem,

And the heavens and the earth quake.

But Yahweh is a refuge for His people

And a strong defense to the sons of Israel.

Then you will know that I am Yahweh your God,

Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.

So Jerusalem will be holy,

And strangers will pass through it no more.

Yahweh Dwells in Zion

And it will be in that day,

That the mountains will drip with sweet wine,

And the hills will flow with milk,

And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water;

And a spring will go out from the house of Yahweh

To water the valley of Shittim.

Egypt will become a desolation,

And Edom will become a desolate wilderness,

Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah,

In whose land they have shed innocent blood.

But Judah will be inhabited forever

And Jerusalem from generation to generation.

And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged,

Indeed, Yahweh dwells in Zion.

Revelation 12

The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 And she was with child, and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. 5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days.

War in Heaven

7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their witness, and they did not love their life even to death. 12 For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” 13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she *was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. 17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the witness of Jesus.

Ecclesiastes 11

Cast Your Bread on the Waters

Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days. 2 Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what calamity may occur on the earth. 3 If the clouds are full, they empty the rain upon the earth; and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it lies. 4 He who watches the wind will not sow, and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. 5 Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the work of God who works all things. 6 Sow your seed in the morning and do not put your hands down in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good. 7 The light is sweet, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun. 8 Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him be glad in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything that is to come will be vanity. 9 Be glad, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be merry during the days of young manhood. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the sights of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. 10 So, remove vexation from your heart and put away evil from your flesh because childhood and the prime of life are vanity.