God’s Case against the Foreign Nations (3:1-8):

3:1–3  The NIV has eliminated two important words in the translation of verse 1. In the Hebrew, the verse begins, “For behold,” which not only connects this passage with the preceding poem, but also emphasizes the content of verses 1–4. In 2:28–32, Joel has announced those signs that will precede the coming of the day of the Lord. He now tells what will happen at the time of the day itself. When the day comes, God will save Israel (v. 1) but will gather together the other nations and take them into the Valley of Jehoshaphat to go to court with them for their sins.

The name “Jehoshaphat” is a symbolic name, made up of two Hebrew words: Yah (which is a shortened form of the divine name Yahweh, used throughout the OT), and šāpaṭ, which means “to j…