Put
in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.
Joel 3:13
Joel 3 [5.] Because you have taken my silver and my gold,
and have carried my finest treasures into your temples,
and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks,
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 Sheba,
to a faraway nation,
for Yahweh has spoken it.”
Proclaim this among the nations:
“Prepare for war!
Stir up the mighty men.
Let all the warriors draw near.
Let them come up.
Joel 3 [10.] Beat your plowshares into swords,
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, Yahweh.
“Let the nations arouse themselves,
and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat;
for there will I sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
Put in the sickle;
for the harvest is ripe.
Come, tread, for the wine press is full,
the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.”
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For the day of Yahweh is near, in the valley of decision.
Joel 3 [15.] The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
Yahweh will roar from Zion,
and thunder from Jerusalem;
and the heavens and the earth will shake;
but Yahweh will be a refuge to his people,
and a stronghold to the children of Israel.
Meaning:
The prophet Joel spoke after a devastating plague of locusts had stripped the land of Judah. He used that disaster as a warning of a far greater event, "the day of Yahweh", when God would act decisively in judgment and in salvation. In chapter 3 the scene moves to the nations who had plundered Judah, carried off temple treasures and sold its children as slaves to the Greeks. God summons them to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and in this verse he gives the command for the harvest of judgment: put in the sickle, tread the winepress, for their wickedness is great.
- Harvest and Winepress
Joel's hearers lived by the farming year. The grain harvest came in late spring, when reapers swung their sickles through the ripe barley and wheat. The grape harvest followed in late summer, when grapes were trodden in stone winepresses until the juice ran into the vats below. Both were familiar, joyful scenes, but Joel turns them into pictures of judgment. The nations' sin has grown to full ripeness; the winepress is full and the vats overflow.
The point is that God's judgment is neither hasty nor arbitrary. Like a farmer who waits until the crop is fully ripe, God patiently allows time for repentance, but when wickedness reaches its full measure, the harvest comes.
- The Valley of Decision
The name Jehoshaphat means "Yahweh judges". The valley of Jehoshaphat is the place where God sits as judge over the surrounding nations. Joel calls it "the valley of decision", not because the nations decide but because God gives his verdict there. The ironic call to "beat your plowshares into swords" reverses Isaiah's promise that in the last days the nations will beat their swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4): those who refuse God's peace must face him in war they cannot win.
Yet the same chapter ends with refuge and blessing for God's people. Just before this, Joel promised the outpouring of God's Spirit and declared that "whoever will call on Yahweh’s name shall be saved" (Joel 2:32).
- Echoed by Jesus
Jesus used Joel's words in the parable of the seed growing secretly. When the grain is ripe, the farmer "puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come" (Mark 4:29). In Jesus' teaching the harvest is the gathering of God's kingdom at the end of the age, bringing both judgment and the joyful ingathering of the righteous. Jesus also spoke of a present harvest of people ready to receive the gospel, urging his disciples to pray for labourers (Luke 10:2).
The Significance of Joel 3:13
- God Will Right Every Wrong
The nations in Joel had trafficked children and robbed God's house. Joel assures the oppressed that God sees and will repay. Paul preached in Athens that God "has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness" (Acts 17:31). This frees believers from taking revenge and gives hope to all who suffer injustice.
- Today Is the Day of Salvation
Because the harvest of judgment is certain, the time to turn to God is now. "Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). The same Lord who will judge is the refuge and stronghold of all who call on his name.
Cross-References:
Mark 4:29: "But when the fruit is ripe, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." Jesus borrows Joel’s harvest language to describe the completion of God’s kingdom.
Luke 10:2: "The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest." There is also a harvest of salvation, and believers are called to take part in it.
Joel 2:32: "whoever will call on Yahweh’s name shall be saved" Before the day of judgment, God holds out salvation to everyone who calls on him.
Acts 17:31: "he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained" The day Joel foresaw is fixed, and Jesus, raised from the dead, will be the judge.
Conclusion: Joel 3:13 uses the familiar sights of reaping and treading grapes to announce that God's judgment will come when wickedness is fully ripe. It warns the proud and comforts the oppressed. Jesus took up the same harvest picture, and the gospel invites everyone to call on the Lord's name now, so that the coming harvest will be for us a day of joy and not of fear.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible