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New International Version |   | |
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| | Joe 3:1 | `In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
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| | Joe 3:2 | I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.
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| | Joe 3:3 | They cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes; they sold girls for wine that they might drink.
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| | Joe 3:4 | `Now what have you against me, O Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done.
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| | Joe 3:5 | For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples.
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| | Joe 3:6 | You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland.
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| | Joe 3:7 | `See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them, and I will return on your own heads what you have done.
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| | Joe 3:8 | I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.` The LORD has spoken.
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| | Joe 3:9 | Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
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| | Joe 3:10 | Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, `I am strong!`
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| | Joe 3:11 | Come quickly, all you nations from every side, and assemble there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD!
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| | Joe 3:12 | `Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side.
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| | Joe 3:13 | Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow-- so great is their wickedness!`
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| | Joe 3:14 | Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
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| | Joe 3:15 | The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine.
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| | Joe 3:16 | The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.
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| | Joe 3:17 | `Then you will know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy; never again will foreigners invade her.
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| | Joe 3:18 | `In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the LORD's house and will water the valley of acacias.
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| | Joe 3:19 | But Egypt will be desolate, Edom a desert waste, because of violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.
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| | Joe 3:20 | Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through all generations.
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| | Joe 3:21 | Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, I will pardon.` The LORD dwells in Zion!
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