SPEAKING through the prophet Joel of a time when he would “bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,” the Lord says, “I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment upon them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations.” Again he says: “Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about.” The word “Jehoshaphat” means “Jehovah’s judgment,” and the reference is “to that triumphant day when King Jehoshaphat, the greatest king the nation had seen since Solomon, and the greatest champion of Jehovah, led out his people to a valley in the wilderness of Tekoah, and was there blessed with such a victory over the hordes of his enemies as was without a parallel in the national records.” The story is given in the twentieth chapter of Second Chronicles. Another picture of this gathering of the nations is given by John the revelator: “And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: for they are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. . . . And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon.”6 The word “Har-Magedon” means “the hill of Megiddo,” and “the locality implied in the Hebrew term here employed is the great battle-field of the Old Testament, where the chief conflicts took place between the Israelites and the enemies of God’s people.” It was “famous for two great victories, of Barak over the Canaanites (Judges 4, 5), and Gideon over the Midianites (Judges 7); and for two great disasters, the death of Saul, in the invasion of the Philistines (1 Sam. 31:8), and the death of Josiah in the invasion of the Egyptians. 2 Kings 23:29, 30; 2 Chron. 35:22. With the first and fourth of these events Megiddo is especially connected.” Through the prophet Joel the call is again issued: “Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, tread ye; for the wine-press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.” Then comes the statement, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision.” From the nature of the events which occurred at the places mentioned in Joel and in the parallel passage in the book of Revelation, and from the connection of both the passages of Scripture, it is plain that a prophetic picture is given of the destruction of the nations at the harvest of the earth, and “the harvest is the end of the world.” The valley of Jehoshaphat, or “Jehovah’s judgment,” is the same as “the valley of decision,” and the valley of decision is the valley of cutting off, or the valley of destruction. As expressing this thought more clearly at least two translations substitute “the valley of excision” for “the valley of decision.” In the changes which have come in the meaning of some of the words in the English language since the King James translation was made, the word “decision” does not now mean “a cutting off,” as it formerly did. The “multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision” are therefore not those who are considering the conflicting claims of duty and pleasure or inclination, hesitating which course to take, but are the multitudes of unrepentant sinners who are cut off in the great day of the Lord. It is undoubtedly true that all on the earth at the close of probation will hear the gospel message, and will be brought to a decision which will determine their eternal destiny, and the expression “multitudes in the valley of decision” may serve as a convenient phrase in which to express this general idea, but that is not the meaning as it stands in the text. We present these facts in the interest of a correct interpretation of the Scripture.