17 And ye shall know that I, Jehovah, [am] your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain; and Jerusalem shall be holy, and no strangers shall pass through her any more.
And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, Jehovah, [am] your God, and there is none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth glad tidings, that publisheth peace! Celebrate thy feasts, Judah, perform thy vows: for the wicked one shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.
And nothing common, nor that maketh an abomination and a lie, shall at all enter into it; but those only who [are] written in the book of life of the Lamb.
And it shall come to pass that he who remaineth in Zion, and he that is left in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, -- every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem;
In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO JEHOVAH; and the pots in Jehovah's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto Jehovah of hosts; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein. And in that day there shall be no more a Canaanite in the house of Jehovah of hosts.
And I will purge them from the blood from which I had not purged them: for Jehovah dwelleth in Zion.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: They shall again use this speech, in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall turn their captivity: Jehovah bless thee, O habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness!
Exult, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; rejoice and be glad with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem: Jehovah hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy; the King of Israel, Jehovah, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear not; Zion, let not thy hands be slack.
Thus saith Jehovah: I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called, The city of truth; and the mountain of Jehovah of hosts, The holy mountain.
Sing psalms to Jehovah who dwelleth in Zion; tell among the peoples his doings.
For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually; yea, they shall drink, and shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. But upon mount Zion shall there be deliverance, and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the mountain of holy beauty; and he shall come to his end, and there shall be none to help him.
This is the law of the house: Upon the top of the mountain all its border round about is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
And a highway shall be there and a way, and it shall be called, The way of holiness: the unclean shall not pass through it; but it shall be for these. Those that go [this] way -- even fools, -- shall not err [therein].
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Joel 3
Commentary on Joel 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
In the close of the foregoing chapter we had a gracious promise of deliverance in Mount Zion and Jerusalem; now this whole chapter is a comment upon that promise, showing what that deliverance shall be, how it shall be wrought by the destruction of the church's enemies, and how it shall be perfected in the everlasting rest and joy of the church. This was in part accomplished in the deliverance of Jerusalem from the attempt that Sennacherib made upon it in Hezekiah's time, and afterwards in the return of the Jews out of their captivity in Babylon, and other deliverances wrought for the Jewish church between that and Christ's coming. But it has a further reference, to the great redemption wrought out for us by Jesus Christ, and the destruction of our spiritual enemies and all their agents, and will have its full accomplishment in the judgment of the great day. Here is a prediction,
These promises were not of private interpretation only, but were written for our learning, "that we, through patience and comfort of this scripture, might have hope.'
Joe 3:1-8
We have often heard of the year of the redeemed, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion; now here we have a description of the transactions of that year, and a prophecy of what shall be done when it comes, whenever it comes, for it comes often, and at the end of time it will come once for all.
Joe 3:9-17
What the psalmist had long before ordered to be said among the heathen (Ps. 96:10) the prophet here will have in like manner to be published to all nations, That the Lord reigns, and that he comes, he comes to judge the earth, as he had long been judging in the earth. The notice here given of God's judging the nations may have reference to the destruction of Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, and to the Antichrist especially, and all the proud enemies of the Christian church; but some of the best interpreters, ancient and modern (particularly the learned Dr. Polock), think the scope of these verses is to set forth the day of the last judgment under the similitude of God's making war upon the enemies of his kingdom, and his gathering in the harvest of the earth, both which similitudes we find used in the Revelation, ch. 19:11; 14:18. Here we have,
Joe 3:18-21
These promises with which this prophecy concludes have their accomplishments in part in the kingdom of grace, and the comforts and graces of all the faithful subjects of that kingdom, but will have their full accomplishment in the kingdom of glory; for, as to the Jewish church, we know not of any event concerning that which answers to the extent of these promises, and what instances of peace and prosperity they were blessed with, which they may be supposed to be a hyperbolical description of, they were but figures of better things reserved for us, that they in their best estate without us might not be made perfect.