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About this book

Joel

About this book
Chapter 3

1 “For look! In those days and at that time I will return the exiles to Judah and Jerusalem. 2 Then I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. I will enter into judgment against them there concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance, whom they scattered among the nations.⁠ They partitioned my land, 3 and they cast lots for my people.⁠ They traded a boy for a prostitute; they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink. 4 Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon? Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia? If you are, I will very quickly repay you for what you have done! 5 For you took my silver and my gold and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces. 6 You sold Judeans and Jerusalemites to the Greeks, removing them far from their own country. 7 Look! I am rousing them from that place to which you sold them. I will repay you for what you have done! 8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah. They will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.” Indeed, the Lord has spoken. 9 Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for a holy war! Call out the warriors! Let all these fighting men approach and attack! 10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I too am a warrior!’⁠ 11 Lend your aid and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves to that place.” Bring down, O Lord, your warriors! 12 “Let the nations be roused and let them go up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit in judgment on all the surrounding nations.⁠ 13 Rush forth with the sickle, for the harvest is ripe! Come, stomp the grapes, for the winepress is full! The vats overflow. Indeed, their evil is great!”⁠ 14 Crowds, great crowds are in the Valley of Decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the Valley of Decision! 15 The sun and moon are darkened; the stars withhold their brightness. 16 The Lord roars from Zion; from Jerusalem his voice bellows out.⁠ The heavens and the earth shake.⁠ But the Lord is a refuge for his people; he is a stronghold for the citizens of Israel.⁠ 17 “You will be convinced that I, the Lord, am your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy— conquering armies will no longer pass through it. 18 On that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine,⁠ and the hills will flow with milk. All the dry stream beds of Judah will flow with water. A spring will flow out from the temple of the Lord, watering the Valley of Acacia Trees.⁠ 19 Egypt will be desolate,⁠ and Edom will be a desolate wilderness because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood. 20 But Judah will reside securely forever, and Jerusalem will be secure from one generation to the next. 21 I will avenge their blood that I had not previously acquitted.” It is the Lord who dwells in Zion!

Texts in conversation

Compare Joel 3:16 and Amos 1:2

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Amos and Joel similarly describe God roaring like a lion from Zion, a sound so loud it shakes the entire land. In Amos, it signals withering fields and coming judgment, and in Joel it depicts the future when nations will be judged and held accountable.

Passages

Joel 3:16

Hebrew Bible
14 Crowds, great crowds are in the Valley of Decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the Valley of Decision! 15 The sun and moon are darkened; the stars withhold their brightness. 16 The Lord roars from Zion; from Jerusalem his voice bellows out. The heavens and the earth shake. But the Lord is a refuge for his people; he is a stronghold for the citizens of Israel. 17 “You will be convinced that I, the Lord, am your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy— conquering armies will no longer pass through it. 18 On that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the dry stream beds of Judah will flow with water. A spring will flow out from the temple of the Lord, watering the Valley of Acacia Trees.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Joel

Amos 1:2

Hebrew Bible
1 The following is a record of what Amos prophesied. He was one of the herdsmen from Tekoa. These prophecies about Israel were revealed to him during the time of King Uzziah of Judah and King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2 Amos said: “The Lord comes roaring out of Zion; from Jerusalem he comes bellowing! The shepherds’ pastures wilt; the summit of Carmel withers.” 3 This is what the Lord says: “Because Damascus has committed three crimes—make that four!—I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They ripped through Gilead like threshing sledges with iron teeth. 4 So I will set Hazael’s house on fire; fire will consume Ben Hadad’s fortresses.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Amos

References

"... The second major facet of Joel to be treated is its intertextual relationships, particularly in relation to the other constituent books of the Book of the Twelve. Several intertextual relationships require examination. Apart from those pertaining to the Book of the Twelve, they include first of all the use of the Exodus tradition, particularly the plagues of locusts in Exodus 10:1-20 and darkness in Exodus 10:21-29. The use of the Exodus tradition includes the Sharav or Hamsin, the dry desert wind that brings locusts and perhaps the darkness to depict YHWH's defeat of threats against the people (Exodus 10:13, 19; compare Exodus 14-15; Isaiah 11:11-16). Other traditions employed include the 'Day of YHWH' tradition that depicts punishment against Israel's enemies as well as against Israel itself (Isaiah 2; 13; see also Amos 5:18-20; Obadiah; Zephaniah; Zechariah) and 2 Chronicles 20, which portrays King Jehoshaphat's defeat of the nations, Ammon, Moab, and Edom, that threatened Jerusalem. Intertextual references with the Book of the Twelve include the citation of Amos 1:2 and 9:13 in Joel 4:16, 18; the use of Micah 4:1-5 (compare Isaiah 2:21) in Joel 4:10; and citations from the book of Obadiah that appear throughout Joel 3—4 ..."
Marvin A. Sweeney, Form and Intertextuality in Prophetic and Apocalyptic Literature (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005), 198–199.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Joel 3:16 and Amos 1:2

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