4:1
'For in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
4:2
I shall gather all the nations together and take them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; there I shall put them on trial because of Israel, my people and my heritage, for having scattered them among the nations and having divided my land among themselves.
4:3
They drew lots for my people, bartering a boy for a whore and selling a girl for wine to drink.
4:4
'And what are you to me, Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Can you take revenge on me? If you take revenge on me, I shall quickly, instantly, make your revenge recoil on your own heads
4:5
for having taken my silver and gold away and carried off my valuable treasures to your temples,
4:6
and for having sold the children of Judah and Jerusalem to the Ionians, to be taken far away from their own frontiers.
4:7
Look, I shall rouse them from the places to which you have sold them; I shall make your actions recoil on your own heads
4:8
by selling your sons and daughters to the sons of Judah, who in turn will sell them to the Sabaeans, to a nation far away- Yahweh has spoken!'
4:9
Proclaim this among the nations. Prepare for war! Rouse the champions! All you troops, advance, march!
4:10
Hammer your ploughshares into swords, your bill-hooks into spears; let the weakling say, 'I am tough!'
4:11
Hurry and come, all the nations around, and assemble there! (Yahweh, send down your champions!)
4:12
'Let the nations rouse themselves and march to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I shall sit in judgement on all the nations around.
4:13
Ply the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come and tread, for the winepress is full; the vats are overflowing, so great is their wickedness!'
4:14
Multitude on multitude in the Valley of Decision! For the Day of Yahweh is near in the Valley of the Verdict!
4:15
Sun and moon grow dark, the stars lose their brilliance.
4:16
Yahweh roars from Zion, he thunders from Jerusalem; heaven and earth tremble. But Yahweh will be a shelter for his people, a stronghold for the Israelites.
4:17
'Then you will know that I am Yahweh your God residing on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will then be a sanctuary, no foreigners will overrun it ever again.'
4:18
When that Day comes, the mountains will run with new wine and the hills will flow with milk, and all the stream-beds of Judah will run with water. A fountain will spring from Yahweh's Temple and water the Gorge of the Acacias.
4:19
Egypt will become a desolation, and Edom a desert waste on account of the violence done to the children of Judah whose innocent blood they shed in their country.
4:20
But Judah will be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation!
4:21
'I shall avenge their blood and let none go unpunished,' and Yahweh will dwell in Zion.
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