The Day of Judgment

14 Look, the Lord has a special day of judgment coming, when the riches you have taken will be divided in your city. ² I will bring all the nations together to fight against Jerusalem. They will capture the city and destroy the houses. The women will be raped, and half of the people will be taken away as prisoners. But the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. ³ Then the Lord will go to war with those nations. It will be a real battle. ⁴ At that time he will stand on the Mount of Olives, the hill east of Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives will split in half. Part of the mountain will move to the north, and part to the south. A deep valley will open up, from the east to the west. ⁵ You will try to run away as that mountain valley comes closer and closer to you. You will run away like the time you ran from the earthquake during the time of King Uzziah of Judah. But the Lord my God will come, and all his holy ones^[a] will be with him.

^6-7 That will be a very special day. There will not be any light, cold, or frost. Only the Lord knows how, but there will not be any day or night. Then, when darkness usually comes, there will still be light. ⁸ At that time water will flow continually from Jerusalem.^[b] That stream will split and part of it will flow east, and part of it will flow west to the Mediterranean Sea. And it will flow all year long, in the summer as well as in the winter. ⁹ And the Lord will be the King of the whole world. At that time all people will worship him as the only Lord with only one name. ¹⁰ And the whole land from Geba in the north to Rimmon in the south past Jerusalem will become a flat plain. The city of Jerusalem will stay in the same place, but it will be built high above the land around it. It will reach from the Benjamin Gate to the First Gate (that is, the Corner Gate) and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. ¹¹ People will move to Jerusalem because it will be a safe place to live. It will never again be destroyed.

¹² But the Lord will punish the nations that fought against Jerusalem. He will send a terrible disease against them. Their skin will begin to rot while the people are still alive. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. ^13-15 That terrible disease will be in the enemy camp, and all their horses, mules, camels, and donkeys will catch that terrible disease.

At that time they will be afraid of the Lord. Each man will grab his neighbor’s hand, and they will fight each other. Even Judah will fight against Jerusalem. This will happen even while armies from all the nations are surrounding the city. There will be much gold, silver, and clothing. ¹⁶ Some of the people who came to fight Jerusalem will survive. And every year they will come to worship the king, the Lord All-Powerful. They will come to celebrate the Festival of Shelters. ¹⁷ And if people from any of the families on earth don’t go to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord All-Powerful, no rain will fall on their land. ¹⁸ If any of the families in Egypt don’t come to celebrate the Festival of Shelters, they will get that terrible disease that the Lord caused the enemy nations to get. ¹⁹ That will be the punishment for Egypt, and for any other nation that does not come to celebrate the Festival of Shelters.

²⁰ At that time even the harnesses on the horses will have the label, holy to the lord.^[c] And all the pots used in the Lord’s Temple will be just as important as the bowls used at the altar. ²¹ In fact, every dish in Jerusalem and Judah will have the label, holy to the lord all-powerful. All the people offering sacrifices will come, take those dishes, and cook their special meals in them.

At that time there will not be any merchants buying and selling things^[d] in the Temple of the Lord All-Powerful.