Commentary on Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah and Nahum John Calvin
Joel 3
Joel 3:1-3
1. For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
1. Quia ecce, diebus illis et tempore illo, quo convertam captivitatem Jehudah et
Jerusalem;
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
2 Et congregabo (tunc congregabo) omnes gentes, et descendere faciam in vallem
Jesephat, et disceptabo illic cum ipsis super populo meo et super haereditate mea
Israel, quia disperserunt inter gentes et partiti sunt terram meam (addemus et hunc etiam versum.)
3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
3 Et super populo meo jecerunt sortem et posuerunt, puerum pro scorto (hoc est, addixerunt pro scorto) et pullam vendiderunt pro vino ut biberunt.
The Prophet confirms in these words what he had before taught respecting the restoration of the Church; for it was a thing difÏcult to be believed: when the body of the people was so mutilated, when their name was obliterated, when all power was abolished, when the worship of God also, together with the temple, was subverted, when there was no more any form of a kingdom, or even of any civil government, who could have thought that God had any concern for a people in such a wretched condition? It is then no wonder that the Prophet speaks so much at large of the restoration of the Church; he did so, that he might more fully confirm what would have otherwise been incredible.
He therefore says, Behold, in those days, and at that time, in which I shall restore the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I shall then make all Gentiles to come down