A Call to War

Say to the nations far and wide: “Get ready for war!  Call out your best warriors!  Let all your fighting men advance for the attack!  Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears.  Train even your weaklings to be warriors.  Come quickly, all you nations everywhere!  Gather together in the valley.”  And now, O LORD, call out your warriors!  “Let the nations be called to arms.  Let them march to the valley of Jehoshaphat.  There I, the LORD, will sit to pronounce judgment on them all.  Now let the sickle do its work, for the harvest is ripe.  Come, tread the winepress because it is full.  The storage vats are overflowing with the wickedness of these people.”  Thousands upon thousands are waiting in the valley of decision.  It is there that the day of the LORD will soon arrive.  The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine.  The LORD’s voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem, and the earth and heavens will begin to shake.  But to his people of Israel, the LORD will be a welcoming refuge and a strong fortress.  “Then you will know that I, the LORD your God, live in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy forever, and foreign armies will never conquer her again. (Joel 3:9-17 NLT some Bibles have this as chapter 4)