Joel 3:3
What does Joel 3:3 mean?
A plain-English look at Joel 3:3 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Joel 3:3 means
The Lord catalogs the nations’ cruelty: they reduced His people to commodities. Casting lots for persons treats them as plunder. Exchanging a boy for a harlot and a girl for wine shows how cheaply they valued human life—pleasure for a moment purchased with a soul. This is not only political oppression; it is moral bankruptcy. God’s grief and anger are evident: “my people” were humiliated and desecrated. By naming the indignities, the Lord affirms that none of this was unseen or forgotten. The abuses against the smallest and most vulnerable will be weighed in His scales, and their oppressors will face a precise and righteous recompense.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
KJV
King James Version · 1611And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And they have put the fate of my people to the decision of chance: giving a boy for the price of a loose woman and a girl for a drink of wine.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And for My people they do cast a lot, And they give the young man for an harlot, And the young woman have sold for wine, That they may drink.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And they have cast lots upon my people: and the boy they have put in the stews, and the girl they have sold for wine, that they might drink.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890and they have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, and have drunk [it].
Context
Still within the courtroom framing, this verse presents the evidence of dehumanization. It builds on verse 2’s indictment by showing how the scattering worked out in practice—through lotteries and slave markets. The following verses narrow the focus to specific regional enemies (Tyre, Sidon, Philistia) who facilitated such trade and theft. That transition moves the charges from the general to the particular, preparing the way for a measured, fitting judgment.
v.2I 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: and they have parted my land,
v.3This passage
v.4Yea, and what are ye to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Amos 2:6
Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes—
- Revelation 18:13
and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep; and merchandise of horses and chariots and slaves; and souls of men.
- Nahum 3:10
Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity; her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets; and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
- Obadiah 1:11
In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.
- 2 Chronicles 28:8
And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.
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