Joel 3:6
What does Joel 3:6 mean?
A plain-English look at Joel 3:6 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Joel 3:6 means
The Lord exposes another facet of their guilt: selling the children of Judah and Jerusalem “unto the sons of the Grecians” to remove them far away. This was calculated erasure—tearing families from land and worship, and scattering them across distant markets. The mention of Grecians, seafaring traders, fits the coastal powers addressed. Yet the point is not geography but cruelty. They trafficked image-bearers as cargo. God records both the vendors and the buyers; no link in the chain of oppression escapes His notice. By highlighting distance, He shows the depth of the wound intended—to make return and restoration humanly impossible.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem unto the sons of the Grecians, that ye may remove them far from their border;
KJV
King James Version · 1611The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem unto the sons of the Grecians, that ye may remove them far from their border;
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem you have given for a price to the sons of the Greeks, to send them far away from their land:
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And sons of Judah, and sons of Jerusalem, Ye have sold to the sons of Javan, To put them far off from their border.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And the children of Juda, and the children of Jerusalem, you have sold to the children of the Greeks, that you might remove them far off from their own country.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890and the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the children of the Greeks, that ye might remove them far from their border.
Context
Moving from stolen sacred goods to stolen sons and daughters, this verse rounds out the bill of particulars. It prepares the reader for a dramatic reversal: the very distances designed to prevent return will not hinder the Lord. The next verse (7) answers this calculated dispersal with God’s sovereign ability to rouse the exiles and reverse the traffic of injustice.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Joel 3:3
and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
- Deuteronomy 28:32
Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people; and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day: and there shall be nought in the power of thy hand.
- Ezekiel 27:13
Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy traffickers; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass for thy merchandise.
- Deuteronomy 28:68
And Jehovah will bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I said unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall sell yourselves unto your enemies for bondmen and for bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
- Joel 3:8
and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the men of Sheba, to a nation far off: for Jehovah hath spoken it.
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