CHAPTER 3 Nov. 20 
Judgment on the Nations 
For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided My land, 3and have cast lots for My people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink. 4Yes, and what are you to Me, Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of Philistia? Will you repay Me? And if you repay Me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head. 5Because you have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried My finest treasures into your temples, 6and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border. 7Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head; 8and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a distant nation; for Yahweh has spoken it. 9Proclaim this among the nations: Sanctify war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up. 10Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’. 11Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together. Cause Your mighty ones to come down there, Yahweh. 12Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winepress is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. 14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near, in the valley of decision. 15The sun and the moon will be darkened, and the stars will withdraw their shining. 16Yahweh will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; the heavens and the earth will shake, but Yahweh will be a refuge for His people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.
God’s People to Be Blessed 
17So you will know that I am Yahweh your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem  will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more. 18It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters, and a fountain will come forth from the house of Yahweh and will water the valley of Shittim. 19Egypt will be a desolation, and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, because of the violence done to the children of Judah; because they have shed innocent blood in their land. 20But Judah will be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. 21I will cleanse their blood that I have not so far cleansed: for Yahweh dwells in Zion.

Commentary

3:2 Judgment on them there for My people- The basis of judgment will be how individuals have treated God’s people, both natural and spiritual Israel. Jesus was very clear that how we treat the least of His brothers or sisters is how we treat Him, and He will judge people on this basis (Mt. 25:40). 
3:9 Sanctify war- Declaring a holy war against Israel sounds like the Islamic jihad. 
3:12-14 These verses seem to describe an invasion of Israel by many nations, resulting in them being destroyed in a valley in Israel; these verses are applied to the last days in the description of the battle of Armageddon in Rev. 16:16. God will be suddenly revealed in the Jerusalem area (:16), associated with His “mighty ones” “coming down” there (:11). Obadiah 21 speaks of the same situation. This surely refers to the return of Christ to earth from Heaven with His Angels with Him, and also the resurrection of His people, who will then also be His “mighty ones” with Him (1 Thess. 4:14; 2 Thess. 1:7). Jesus ascended to Heaven from Olivet, near Jerusalem, and the Angels promised that He would return to earth in the same way (Acts 1:11).