Joel 3:5
in Joel 3For you took My silver and gold and carried off My finest treasures to your temples.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Forasmuch as ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly precious things,
KJV
Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:
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This verse in Joel 3
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verse 4-6.) But what do you want with me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you retaliate against me? If you retaliate against me, I will quickly repay you for your actions upon your own heads. For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried off my precious treasures into your temples. You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, in order to remove them far from their own land. LXX: What have I to do with you, Tyre and Sidon, and all the Galilee of the Gentiles?
This site's exposition
what have ye to do with me, O Tyre
on Joel 3:4-8
Yea, and what have ye to do with me indicts Tyre, Zidon, and Palestine by name for temple robbery and slave trading, silver and gold carried into their own temples and Judah's children sold to the Grecians, the Ionian slave markets of the eastern Mediterranean the commentators identify behind the reference. Swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head states the principle of measure for measure as explicitly as anywhere in the Twelve, the same law Obadiah names for Edom. The reversal promised, selling the traders' own sons and daughters to the Sabeans, a people far off, matches the crime to its punishment in kind, the far country that received Judah's children now receiving the traders' own.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
These they carried into their temples as trophies of their victory over God's Israel, thinking that therein they triumphed over Israel's God, nay, and that their idols triumphed over him. Thus the ark was put in Dagon's temple. Thus they did unjustly. " What have you to do with me (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
Because ye have taken my silver and my gold,....
Of God's judging all nations when the measure of their iniquity is full, and appearing publicly, to the everlasting confusion of all impenitent sinners and the everlasting comfort of all his faithful servants,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Ye have taken My silver and My gold - Not the silver and gold of the temple, (as some have thought.) At least, up to the prophet’s time, they had not done this. For the inroad of the Philistines in the reign of Jehoram was, apparently, a mere marauding expedition, in which they killed and plundered, but are not said to have besieged or taken any city, much less Jerusalem.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
my silver . . . my gold--that is, the gold and silver of My people. The Philistines and Arabians had carried off all the treasures of King Jehoram's house (2Ch 21:16, 17).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Ye have taken my silver and my gold - The Chaldeans had spoiled the temple, and carried away the sacred vessels, and put them in the temple of their own god in Babylon.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
And it shall come to pass that whoever shall call etc. as.. said —And where did He say it? (Deut.:10), “And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the Name of the Lord is called on you.” [from Mechilta, Ex.:25]
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
shall turn to darkness —to embarrass those who prostrate themselves to the sun.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | that | H834 → | 5497 times |
| כַּסְפִּ֥י | kaspi | silver my | H3701 → | |
| וּזְהָבִ֖י | uzehavi | and gold my | H2091 → | |
| לְקַחְתֶּ֑ם | lekachtem | you took | H3947 → | |
| וּמַֽחֲמַדַּי֙ | umachamadai | and desirable things my | H4261 → | |
| הַטֹּבִ֔ים | hatovim | <the> good | H2896 → | |
| הֲבֵאתֶ֖ם | havetem | you took | H935 → | 2568 times |
| לְהֵיכְלֵיכֶֽם׃ | leheikheleikhem | to own temples your | H1964 → |
אֲשֶׁר־that
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
כַּסְפִּ֥יsilver my
kaspiH3701 →
וּזְהָבִ֖יand gold my
uzehaviH2091 →
לְקַחְתֶּ֑םyou took
lekachtemH3947 →
וּמַֽחֲמַדַּי֙and desirable things my
umachamadaiH4261 →
הַטֹּבִ֔ים<the> good
hatovimH2896 →
הֲבֵאתֶ֖םyou took
havetemH935 →2568 times
לְהֵיכְלֵיכֶֽם׃to own temples your
leheikheleikhemH1964 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Kings 12:18So King Joash of Judah took all the sacred objects dedicated by his fathers—Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah—along with his own consecrated items and all the gold found in the treasuries…
it leads to
- 2 Kings 18:15–16
Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 15:18
So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the royal palace. He entrusted it to his servants and sent them with this…
- 2 Chronicles 16:2
So Asa withdrew the silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and he sent it with this message to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who was…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Kings 18:15–16
Through
2 Kings 24:13As the LORD had declared, Nebuchadnezzar also carried off all the treasures from the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and he cut into pieces all the gold articles that Solomon king…
it leads to
- Isaiah 39:6
The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD.
- Jeremiah 20:5
I will give away all the wealth of this city—all its products and valuables, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah—to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them…
- 2 Kings 20:17
The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD.
- 1 Kings 7:48–50
Solomon also made all the furnishings for the house of the LORD: the golden altar; the golden table on which was placed the Bread of the Presence;
- Isaiah 39:6
Through
2 Kings 16:8Ahaz also took the silver and gold found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s palace, and he sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 12:17–18
At that time Hazael king of Aram marched up and fought against Gath and captured it. Then he decided to attack Jerusalem.
- 2 Kings 12:17–18
About Joel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Joel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.