World English Bible · The Persian return
Joel 3
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"For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and , I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute on them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land, and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a , and sold a girl for , that they may drink. "Yes, and what are you to me, and , and all the regions of ? Will you repay me? And if you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head. Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest into your temples, and have sold the children of Judah and the children of to the sons of , that you may remove them far from their border. Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head; and 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 , to a faraway nation, for has spoken it." Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Stir up the . Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up. Beat your plowshares into , and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, 'I am strong.' Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together." Cause your mighty ones to come down there, . "Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great." , in the valley of decision! For is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. will roar from , and thunder from ; and and the earth will shake; but will be a refuge to his people, and a to the . "So you will know that I am , your , dwelling in , my mountain. Then will be , and no strangers will pass through her any more. It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet , the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters; and a fountain will flow out from house, and will water the valley of . will be a desolation and will be a desolate , for the done to the children of Judah, because they have in their land. But Judah will be inhabited , and from generation to generation. I will cleanse their that I have not cleansed, for dwells in ."
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The world at this moment · The Persian return, 539 BC to 332 BC ›
Persia takes Babylon and reverses its policy, sending exiled peoples home to rebuild their temples. Judah returns as a small province, rebuilding under imperial permission rather than independence.
- Persia
- The largest empire the world had yet seen, from the Indus to the Aegean, run through provinces, a royal road, and a postal system. Its policy on conquered peoples was to send them home and fund their temples, in exchange for loyalty and prayers for the king. The Cyrus Cylinder states the policy in Cyrus's own words, and Ezra opens with the same policy applied to Judah.
- Judah
- A small, poor province called Yehud, a fraction of the old kingdom, with a rebuilt temple that made the people who remembered the first one weep. No king, and no prospect of one. Leadership passes to priests and scribes, which shapes everything afterward.
- Greece
- Persia and Greece collide at Marathon and Salamis, Persia loses, and Athens spends the following decades on the Parthenon, tragedy, and Socrates. Herodotus writes the first history in order to explain that war. Then Plato and Aristotle, whose vocabulary the church will still be using at Nicaea eight centuries later.
- Further afield
- Rome throws out its kings and becomes a republic. In India and China this is the age of the Buddha's early followers and of Confucian teaching taking hold. More of what the world still thinks with was invented in this era than in almost any other.