Joel 3:19-21

3:19 Egypt will be desolate

and Edom will be a desolate wilderness,

because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, ¹ 

in whose land they shed innocent blood.

3:20 But Judah will reside securely forever,

and Jerusalem will be secure ²  from one generation to the next.

3:21 I will avenge ³  their blood which I had not previously acquitted.

It is the Lord who dwells in Zion!

[3:19]  ¹ tn Heb “violence of the sons of Judah.” The phrase “of the sons of Judah” is an objective genitive (cf. KJV “the violence against the children of Judah”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “violence done to the people of Judah”). It refers to injustices committed against the Judeans, not violence that the Judeans themselves had committed against others.

[3:20]  ² tn The phrase “will be secure” does not appear in the Hebrew, but are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.

[3:21]  ³ tc The present translation follows the reading וְנִקַּמְתִּי (vÿniqqamti, “I will avenge”) rather than וְנִקֵּתִי (vÿniqqeti, “I will acquit”) of the MT.