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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 Ezekiel 29:12 and Joel 3:19

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Joel implies that the fate of Egypt and Edom is permanent desolation in response to their injustice to Israel, reinforcing Judah’s security. Ezekiel, however, describes Egypt scattered among the nations but only for forty years before being restored.

Passages

Ezekiel 29:12

Hebrew Bible
10 I am against you and your waterways. I will turn the land of Egypt into an utter desolate ruin from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border with Ethiopia. 11 No human foot will pass through it, and no animal’s foot will pass through it; it will be uninhabited for 40 years. 12 I will turn the land of Egypt into a desolation in the midst of desolate lands; for 40 years her cities will lie desolate in the midst of ruined cities. I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries. 13 “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: At the end of 40 years I will gather Egypt from the peoples where they were scattered. 14 I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and will bring them back to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin; there they will be an insignificant kingdom.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

Joel 3:19

Hebrew Bible
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!
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Joel

References

"... Another theme relates to the means of executing these judgments. One such means YHWH threatens to use is to scatter the Israelites to the winds (Ezekiel 5:10, 12). In the oracles against the nations Egypt is specifically singled out for scattering. The words disperse, scatter are used to give this action the force it deserves. YHWH declares he will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries (Ezekiel 29:12; 30:23, 26). Ezekiel 30:17 and 18 are explicit that the Egyptian cities and villages will go into captivity. The agent YHWH employs to execute this threat is the king of Babylon ... One significant difference to note here is that while in Ezekiel 5 YHWH does not make any promises of restoration to Israel, in the oracle against Egypt YHWH announces that their exile would last only for 40 years, after which Egypt would be restored to her land ... Just like in Ezekiel 5:12, 17, Jeremiah brings together sword, famine, and pestilence, as some of the means YHWH is going to use in punishing Israel ... Contrary to Ezekiel 5:17 where wild animals are briefly mentioned, Jeremiah specifies the nature of the wild animals that would ravage Jerusalem: Therefore a lion from the forest shall kill them, a wolf from the desert shall destroy them. A leopard is watching against their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces (Jeremiah 5:6). Bloodshed is another punishment that Ezekiel mentions (Ezekiel 5:17). This theme also occurs in other prophets (Compare Isaiah 1:15; 5:7; 26:21; 33:15; 34:3; 49:26; 59:7; Jeremiah 7:6; 19:4; 22:3; 26:15; 46:10; 51:35; Hosea 1:4; 4:2; 6:8; Joel 3:19, 21; Jonah 1:14; Micah 3:10; 7:2; Nahum 3:1; Habakkuk 2:8, 12, 17; Zephaniah 1:17; Zechariah 9:15) ..."
Paul Onyango Wahonya, “Ezekiel 5:5–17 and Theodicy: A Theological Investigation of the Character of God” (diss., Andrews University, 2011), 281, 340.

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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Ezekiel 29:12 and Joel 3:19

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