Eze 39:23-29, Joe 3, Zec 12:2-10, 13:8-9, 14:2 | ESV | STEP | And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity , because they dealt so treacherously with me that I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries , and they all fell by the sword .

23 And ^athe nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt so treacherously with me that ^bI hid my face from them and ^cgave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. 24 I dealt with them ^daccording to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them.

The Lord Will Restore Israel

25 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now ^eI will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on ^fthe whole house of Israel, and ^gI will be jealous for my holy name. 26 They shall ^hforget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when ⁱthey dwell securely in their land with ^jnone to make them afraid, 27 ^kwhen I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands, ^land through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. 28 ^mThen they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore. 29 ⁿAnd I will not hide my face anymore from them, when ^oI pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”

Joel 3

The Lord Judges the Nations

1 ^{▼▼Ch 4:1 in Hebrew} “For behold, ^qin those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 ^rI will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And ^sI will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, 3 and ^thave cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.

4 “What are you to me, ^uO Tyre and Sidon, and all ^vthe regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, ^wI will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. 5 For ^xyou have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. ^{▼▼Or palaces} 6 You have sold ^zthe people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. 7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and ^aaI will return your payment on your own head. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the ^abSabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”

9 Proclaim this among the nations:
^acConsecrate for war; ^{▼▼Or Consecrate a war}
stir up the mighty men.
Let all the men of war draw near;
let them come up.
10 ^aeBeat your plowshares into swords,
and ^afyour pruning hooks into spears;
let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
11 ^agHasten and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves there.
^ahBring down your warriors, O Lord.
12 Let the nations stir themselves up
and come up to ^aithe Valley of Jehoshaphat;
^ajfor there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
13 ^akPut in the sickle,
^alfor the harvest is ripe.
^amGo in, tread,
^anfor the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
for their evil is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For ^aothe day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
15 ^apThe sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
16 ^aqThe Lord roars from Zion,
and ^arutters his voice from Jerusalem,
^asand the heavens and the earth quake.
But the Lord is ^ata refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.

The Glorious Future of Judah

17 ^au“So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
^avwho dwells in Zion, ^awmy holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and ^axstrangers shall never again pass through it.
18 “And in that day
^aythe mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and ^azall the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
^baand a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
and water the Valley of ^bbShittim.
19 ^bc“Egypt shall become a desolation
and ^bdEdom a desolate wilderness,
^befor the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 ^bfBut Judah shall be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
21 ^bgI will avenge their blood,
blood I have not avenged, ^{▼▼Or I will acquit their bloodguilt that I have not acquitted}
^bifor the Lord dwells in Zion.”

Zechariah 12:2-10

2 “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem ^bja cup of staggering to ^bkall the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem ^blwill also be against Judah. 3 ^bmOn that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. ^bnAll who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And ^boall the nations of the earth will gather against it. 4 ^bpOn that day, declares the Lord, ^bqI will strike every horse ^brwith panic, and its rider ^bswith madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples ^btwith blindness. 5 Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.’

6 ^bu“On that day I will make the clans of Judah ^bvlike a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And ^bwthey shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while ^bxJerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.

7 “And the Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. 8 ^byOn that day ^bzthe Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that ^cathe feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, ^cblike the angel of the Lord, going before them. 9 ^ccAnd on that day ^cdI will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Him Whom They Have Pierced

10 “And ^ceI will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and ^cfpleas for mercy, so that, ^cgwhen they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, ^chthey shall mourn for him, ^cias one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

Zechariah 13:8-9

8 In the whole land, declares the Lord,
two thirds shall be cut off and perish,
^cjand one third shall be left alive.
9 And ^ckI will put this third into the fire,
and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
^clThey will call upon my name,
and ^cmI will answer them.
^cnI will say, ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

Zechariah 14:2

2 For ^coI will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and ^cpthe city shall be taken ^cqand the houses plundered ^crand the women raped. ^csHalf of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.