CHAPTER 3
1 For lo! in those days, and in that time, when I shall turn the captivity of Judah and of Jerusalem, (For behold! in those days, and at that time, when I shall restore the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem,)
2 I shall gather all folks, and I shall lead them [forth] into the valley of Jehoshaphat*; and I shall dispute there with them on my people, and mine heritage Israel, which they scattered among nations; and they parted my land, (I shall gather all the nations, and I shall lead them forth into the Valley of Doom, or the Valley of Judgement; and I shall judge them there on behalf of my people Israel, my own inheritance, whom they have scattered among the nations; for they have divided up my land,)
3 and sent lot on my people; and they setted a knave child in the bordel house, and sold a damsel for wine, that they should drink. (and cast lots for my people; and they put a boy child in the bordellery, and sold a young girl for wine, so that they could have something to drink.)
4 But what to me and to you, thou Tyre, and Sidon, and each end of Palestine? Whether ye shall yield venging to me? and if ye venge you against me, soon swiftly I shall yield while to you on(to) your head. (But what be you to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all of Philistia? Shall ye avenge yourselves against me? if ye do avenge yourselves against me, soon and swiftly I shall turn back your despicable deeds upon your own heads.)
5 Ye took away my silver and gold, and ye brought my desirable things and fairest things into your temples of idols. (Ye took away my silver and gold, and ye brought my most desired and beautiful things into your temples of idols.)
6 And ye sold the sons of Judah, and the sons of Jerusalem, to the sons of (the) Greeks, that ye should make them far from their coasts. (And ye sold the people of Judah, and of Jerusalem, to the Greeks, so that ye could send them far away from their own coasts.)
7 Lo! I shall raise them from the place in which ye sold them; and I shall turn your yielding into your head. (Behold! I shall raise them up from the place into which ye sold them; and I shall turn back your (despicable) deeds upon your own heads.)
8 And I shall sell your sons and your daughters in(to) the hands of the sons of Judah, and they shall sell them to (the) Sabeans, a far(-off) folk, for the Lord spake.
9 Cry ye this thing among heathen men, hallow ye battle (or prepare ye for battle), raise ye (up) strong men; all men warriors, nigheth, and goeth up.
10 Beat ye together your plows† into swords, and your mattocks, either pickaxes, into spears; a feeble man say, that I am strong, (or let the weak say, I am strong).
11 All folks, break ye out, and come from compass (about), and be ye gathered together; there the Lord shall make thy strong men to die. (All the nations, break ye out, and come from all around, and be ye gathered together; and there the Lord shall make thy strong men to die.)
12 Folks rise together, and goeth up into the valley of Jehoshaphat; for I shall sit there, to deem all folks in compass. (Let all the nations rise up, and go into the Valley of Doom, or the Valley of Judgement; for there I shall sit, and judge all the nations around them.)
13 Send ye sickles, either scythes, for [the] ripe corn waxed; come ye, and go ye down, for the presser is full; pressers be plenteous, for the malice of them is multiplied. (Send ye in sickles, or scythes, for the grain is ripe, or the harvest is ready; come ye, and go ye down, for the winepress is full; yea, the winepresses be overflowing, for their malice, or their wickedness, is multiplied.)
14 Peoples, peoples in the valley of cutting down; for the day of the Lord is nigh in the valley of cutting down. (Peoples, peoples in the Valley of Doom, (or the Valley of Judgement); for the day of the Lord is near in the Valley of Doom!)
15 The sun and the moon be made dark, and (the) stars withdraw their shining.
16 And the Lord shall roar from Zion, and shall give his voice from Jerusalem, and (the) heavens and (the) earth shall be moved; and the Lord is the hope of his people, and the strength of the sons of Israel, (or and the Lord is the hope of his people, and the defender of the Israelites).
17 And ye shall know, that I am your Lord God, dwelling in Zion, in mine holy hill; and Jerusalem shall be holy, and aliens shall no more pass by it. (And ye shall know, that I am the Lord your God, living in Zion, on my holy hill, or living upon Mount Zion, my holy hill; and Jerusalem shall be holy, and foreigners shall no more pass through, or invade, it.)
18 And it shall be, in that day, mountains shall drop sweetness, and little hills shall flow with milk, and waters shall go by all the rivers of Judah; and a well shall go out of the house of the Lord, and shall moist the strand of thorns. (And it shall be, on that day, the mountains shall drip with sweetness, and the little hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain, or a spring, shall go out of the House of the Lord, and shall water the Shittim Valley.)
19 Egypt shall be into desolation, and Idumea into desert of perdition; for that that they did wickedly against the sons of Judah, and shedded out innocent blood in their land. (Egypt shall become a desolation, and Edom a wilderness of perdition; because they did wickedly against the people of Judah, and poured out innocent blood in their land.)
20 And Judah shall be inhabited [into] without end, and Jerusalem into generation and into generation. (And Judah shall be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem for all generations.)
21 And I shall cleanse the blood of them, which I had not cleansed; and the Lord shall dwell in Zion. (And I shall purge unto the blood, that is, unto the death, those whom I have not yet purged; and then the Lord shall live in Zion or and then the Lord shall live upon Mount Zion.)
* CHAPTER 3:2 Also known as the Kidron Valley; it is said to be the setting for the Last Judgement, and so it is called the ‘Valley of Doom’ in other translations. † CHAPTER 3:10 In other writings, John Wycliffe renders this word in this verse as ‘plowghschares’ (‘ploughshares’/‘plowshares’).