Joel 3:6
in Joel 3You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, to send them far from their homeland.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and 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
The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
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This verse in Joel 3
Commentary
9 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 Awakening4 voices
It was a great reproach to Israel, God's first-born, his free-born, to be thus bought and sold among the heathen. (2.) They had unjustly seized God's silver and gold (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
But (says God) " I will raise them out of the place whither you have sold them, and they shall not, as you intended, be buried alive there." Men's selling the people of God will not deprive him of his property in them. (2.) That they shall be paid in their own coin, as Adonibezek was (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem,....
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 Century1 voice
Sold unto the Grecians - These were the descendants of Javan, Gen 10:2-5. And with them the Tyrians trafficked, Eze 27:19. That ye might remove them far from their border - Intending to send them as far off as possible, that it might be impossible for them to get back to reclaim the land of which you had dispossessed them.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Grecians--literally, "Javanites," that is, the Ionians, a Greek colony on the coast of Asia Minor who were the first Greeks known to the Jews. The Greeks themselves, however, in their original descent came from Javan (Ge 10:2, 4).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The children also - Literally, “And the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem have ye sold to the sons of the Greeks.” This sin of the Tyrians was probably old and inveterate. The Tyrians, as they were the great carriers of the world’s traffic, so they were slave-dealers, and, in the earliest times, men-stealers. The Greek ante-historic tradition exhibits them, as trading and selling women, from both Greece and Egypt . As their trade became more fixed, they themselves stole no more, but, like Christian nations, sold those whom others stole or made captive. Ezekiel speaks of their trade in “the souls of men” Eze 27:13 with “Greece” on the one side, and “Tubal and Mesech” near the Black Sea on the other. The beautiful youth of Greece of both sexes were sold even into Persia . In regard to the Moschi and Tibareni, it remains uncertain, whether they sold those whom they took in war (and, like the tribes of Africa in modern times, warred the more, because they had a market for their prisoners,) or whether, like the modern Cireassians, they sold their daughters. Ezekiel however, says “men,” so that he cannot mean, exclusively, women. From the times of the Judges, Israel was exposed in part both to the violence and fraud of Tyre and Sidon. The tribe of Asher seems to have lived in the open country among fortified towns of the Zidonians. For whereas of Benjamin, Manasseh, Ephraim, Zabulon, it is said that the old inhabitants of the land dwelt among them Jdg 1:21, Jdg 1:27, Jdg 1:29-30, of Asher it is said, that they “dwelt among the Canaanites,” the “inhabitants of the land” Jdg 1:31-32, as though these were the more numerous. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
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]
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
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּבְנֵ֤י | uvenei | and [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יְהוּדָה֙ | yehudah | Judah | H3063 → | 819 times |
| וּבְנֵ֣י | uvenei | and [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יְרוּשָׁלִַ֔ם | yerushalim | Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
| מְכַרְתֶּ֖ם | mekhartem | you sold | H4376 → | 80 times |
| לִבְנֵ֣י | livnei | to [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| הַיְּוָנִ֑ים | haiyevanim | the Greeks | H3125 → | |
| לְמַ֥עַן | lemaan | so as | H4616 → | |
| הַרְחִיקָ֖ם | harchikam | to remove far away them | H7368 → | |
| מֵעַ֥ל | meal | from on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| גְּבוּלָֽם׃ | gevulam | own territory their | H1366 → |
וּבְנֵ֤יand [the] people of
uveneiH1121 →4930 times
יְהוּדָה֙Judah
yehudahH3063 →819 times
וּבְנֵ֣יand [the] people of
uveneiH1121 →4930 times
יְרוּשָׁלִַ֔םJerusalem
yerushalimH3389 →643 times
מְכַרְתֶּ֖םyou sold
mekhartemH4376 →80 times
לִבְנֵ֣יto [the] people of
livneiH1121 →4930 times
הַיְּוָנִ֑יםthe Greeks
haiyevanimH3125 →
לְמַ֥עַןso as
lemaanH4616 →
הַרְחִיקָ֖םto remove far away them
harchikamH7368 →
מֵעַ֥לfrom on
mealH5921 →5755 times
גְּבוּלָֽם׃own territory their
gevulamH1366 →
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
Deuteronomy 28:68The LORD will return you to Egypt in ships by a route that I said you should never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 44:12
And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have resolved to go to the land of Egypt to reside there; they will meet their end. They will all fall by the sword…
- Jeremiah 43:7
So they entered the land of Egypt because they did not obey the voice of the LORD, and they went as far as Tahpanhes.
- Hosea 8:13
Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to…
- Hosea 9:3
They will not remain in the land of the LORD; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.
- Deuteronomy 17:16
But the king must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire more horses, for the LORD has said, ‘You are never to go back that way…
- Jeremiah 44:12
Through
Ezekiel 27:13Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your merchants. They exchanged slaves and bronze utensils for your merchandise.
it leads to
- Genesis 10:2
The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
- Genesis 10:2
Through
Joel 3:3They cast lots for My people; they bartered a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine to drink.
it leads to
- Revelation 18:13
of cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; of wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; of cattle, sheep, horses, and chariots; of slaves and souls of men.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 18:13
Through
Deuteronomy 28:32Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, while your eyes grow weary looking for them day after day, with no power in your hand.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:41
You will father sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity.
- Deuteronomy 28:41
About Joel
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PersonPatriarchsJudahJacob's fourth son who pledges himself for Benjamin; the tribe that carries the scepter to Shiloh (49:10) and the line to Christ (…
- PlaceJerusalemJerusalemThe city David took from the Jebusites and made his capital, where Solomon built the temple, where Christ was crucified and rose,…
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.