Joel 3:14
in Joel 3Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the Day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision.
KJV
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
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This verse in Joel 3
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verse 14, 15) O people, people in the valley of slaughter, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of slaughter. The sun and moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining. LXX: The sound is heard in the valley of judgment, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of judgment. The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars will make their shining go away. In that place where we have set ourselves, people, people, and the Seventy have translated, the sound is heard.
This site's exposition
Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe
on Joel 3:13-14
Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe and the press is full, the fats overflow, gives judgment the same two images the book has already used of blessing in chapter 2, harvest and winepress, now turned to their darker sense, wickedness ripe for reaping rather than grain ripe for gathering. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision renames the valley of Jehoshaphat a second time, decision carrying the sense of a verdict rendered rather than any choice the multitudes themselves are making. The day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision repeats the book's refrain from 1:15 and 2:1 for the final time, the phrase that has bound all three chapters together landing here at the judgment it always pointed toward.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The day of judgment will be the day of decision, when every man's eternal state will be determined, and the controversy that has been long depending between the kingdom of Christ and that of Satan shall be finally decided, and an end put to the struggle. The valley of the distribution of judgment (so the Chaldee), when every man shall receive according to the things done in the body.
In the valley of decision - Where God having gathered them, decided their quarrels, and by the conqueror punish the conquered for their sins against God and his people.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Multitudes, multitudes - המנים המנים hamonim, hamonim, crowds upon crowds, in the valley of decision, or excision: the same as the valley of Jehoshaphat, the place where God is to execute judgment on his enemies.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The prophet in vision seeing the immense array of nations congregating, exclaims, "Multitudes, multitudes!" a Hebraism for immense multitudes. valley of decision--that is, the valley in which they are to meet their "determined doom." The same as "the valley of Jehoshaphat," that is, "the valley of judgment" (see on Joe 3:2).
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The prophet continues, as in amazement at the great throng assembling upon one another, “multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision,” as though, whichever way he looked, there were yet more of these “tumultuous masses,” so that there was nothing beside them. It was one living, surging, boiling, sea: throngs upon throngs, mere throngs! . The word rendered “multitudes” suggests, besides, the thought of the hum and din of these masses thronging onward, blindly, to their own destruction. They all “tumultuously rage together, and imagine a vain thing, against the Lord and against His Christ” Psa 2:1-2; but the place where they are gathered, (although they know it not,) is the “valley of decision,” i. e., of “sharp, severe judgment.” The valley is the same as that before called “the valley of Jehoshaphat;” but whereas that name only signifies “God judgeth,” this further name denotes the strictness of God’s judgment. The word signifies “cut,” then “decided;” then is used of severe punishment, or destruction decided and decreed , by God. For the Day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision - Their gathering against God shall be a token of His coming to judge them. They come to fulfill their own ends; but His shall be fulfilled on them. They are left to bring about their own doom; and being abandoned by Him, rush on the more blindly because it is at hand. When their last sin is committed, their last defiance of God spoken or acted against Him, it is come. At all times, indeed, “the Lord is at hand” Php 4:5. It may be, that we are told, that the whole future revealed to us “must shortly come to pass” Rev 1:1, in order to show that all time is a mere nothing, a moment, a dream, when it is gone. Yet here it is said, relatively, not to us, but to the things foretold, that it “is near” to come.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲמוֹנִ֣ים | hamonim | multitudes | H1995 → | |
| הֲמוֹנִ֔ים | hamonim | multitudes | H1995 → | |
| בְּעֵ֖מֶק | beemek | [are] in [the] valley of | H6010 → | 69 times |
| הֶֽחָר֑וּץ | hecharutz | <the> decision | H2742 → | |
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| קָרוֹב֙ | karov | [is] near | H7138 → | 77 times |
| י֣וֹם | yom | [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| בְּעֵ֖מֶק | beemek | in [the] valley of | H6010 → | 69 times |
| הֶחָרֽוּץ׃ | hecharutz | <the> decision | H2742 → |
הֲמוֹנִ֣יםmultitudes
hamonimH1995 →
הֲמוֹנִ֔יםmultitudes
hamonimH1995 →
בְּעֵ֖מֶק[are] in [the] valley of
beemekH6010 →69 times
הֶֽחָר֑וּץ<the> decision
hecharutzH2742 →
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
קָרוֹב֙[is] near
karovH7138 →77 times
י֣וֹם[the] day of
yomH3117 →2304 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
בְּעֵ֖מֶקin [the] valley of
beemekH6010 →69 times
הֶחָרֽוּץ׃<the> decision
hecharutzH2742 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Philippians 3:2Watch out for those dogs, those workers of evil, those mutilators of the flesh!
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 11:13
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
- Titus 1:16
They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.
- Revelation 22:15
But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
- Isaiah 56:10–11
Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.
- 2 Timothy 3:1–6
But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come.
- 2 Corinthians 11:13
Through
2 Peter 3:7And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
it leads to
- 2 Peter 3:10
But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid…
- Isaiah 51:6
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like…
- 2 Peter 3:12
as you anticipate and hasten the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will be destroyed by fire and the elements will melt in the heat.
- 2 Peter 3:10
Where this verse is studied
By subject
Judgment35 verses
About Joel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Joel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.