Joel 3:8

Verse

I will sell your sons and daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans—to a distant nation.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.

American Standard Version (1901)

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.

Bible in Basic English

I will give your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah for a price, and they will give them for a price to the men of Sheba, a nation far off: for the Lord has said it.

Douay-Rheims 1899

And I will sell your sons, and your daughters by the hands of the children of Juda, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far off, for the Lord hath spoken it.

Free Bible Version

I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a distant nation. I the Lord have spoken.

Geneva Bible 1599

And I will send your sonnes and your daughters into the hande of the children of Iudah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people farre off: for the Lord hath spoken it.

King James (Authorized) Version

And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

Translation for Translators

Then I will cause some of your sons and your daughters to be sold to the people of Judah! And some of them will be sold to the Sabea people-group, who live far away. That will certainly happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

Unlocked Literal Bible

I will sell your sons and your daughters, by the hand of the people of Judah. They will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far off, for Yahweh has spoken.”

Noah Webster Bible

And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it .

World English Bible

and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for Yahweh has spoken it.”

Young's Literal Translation

And have sold your sons and your daughters Into the hand of the sons of Judah, And they have sold them to Shabeans, Unto a nation far off, for Jehovah hath spoken.

Context

The LORD Judges the Nations

⁷Behold, I will rouse them from the places to which you sold them; I will return your recompense upon your heads. ⁸I will sell your sons and daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans—to a distant nation.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.

Summary

In Joel 3:8, the prophet speaks of a time when God will gather the nations for judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. This valley symbolizes a place of decision and divine justice, where God will hold the nations accountable for their actions. The imagery used conveys the seriousness of the judgment that will take place, emphasizing the sovereignty and righteousness of God. Ultimately, this verse serves as a reminder of the importance of living in alignment with God's will and the certainty of divine judgment for all nations.

Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
John Gill

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

sell them to . . . Sabeans--The Persian Artaxerxes Mnemon and Darius Ochus, and chiefly the Greek Alexander, reduced the PhÅ“nician and Philistine powers. Thirty thousand Tyrians after the capture of Tyre by the last conqueror, and multitudes of Philistines on the taking of Gaza, were sold as slaves. The Jews are here said to do that which the God of Judah does in vindication of their wrong, namely, sell the PhÅ“nicians who sold them, to a people "far off," as was Greece, whither the Jews had been sold. The Sabeans at the most remote extremity of Arabia Felix are referred to (compare Jer 6:20; Mat 12:42).

John Gill Bible Commentary

And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah,.... That is, deliver them into their hands, to dispose of them; this is thought to have been literally fulfilled in the Tyrians, when thirty thousand (g) of them were sold for slaves, upon the taking of their city by Alexander, who put some of them into the hands of the Jews, they being in friendship with him: it mystically designs the power that the Jewish church, converted, and in union with Gentile Christians, will have over the antichristian states: and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off; the inhabitants of Sheba, a country by the Jews reckoned the uttermost parts of the earth; see Mat 12:42. These are not the same with the Sabeans, the inhabitants of Arabia Deserts, that took away Job's oxen and asses; but rather those who were the inhabitants of Arabia Felix, which lay at a greater distance. So Strabo (h) says, the Sabeans inhabited Arabia Felix; and Diodorus Siculus (i) reckons the Sabeans as very populous, and one of the Arabian nations, who inhabited that Arabia which is called Felix, the metropolis of which is Saba; and he, as well as Strabo, observes, that this country produces many odoriferous plants, as cassia, cinnamon, frankincense, and calamus, or the sweet cane; hence incense is said to come "from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country", Jer 6:20; and since the Jews traded with these people for those spices, it is easy to conceive how they sold their captives to them: now these lived at a great distance, in the extreme parts of Arabia, both towards the Indian sea and the Arabian gulf. And Diodorus Siculus (k) observes, that , because of the distance of their situation, they never came into the power or under the dominion of any, or were never subdued. These seem to be the descendants of Cush, the son, of Ham; and if they were the descendants of Joktan, the son of Shem, as some think, these are placed by Vitringa (l) in Carmania; and where Pliny (m) makes mention of a city called Sabe, and of the river Sabis; and it is worthy of notice that the ancient Greek fathers (n), with one consent, interpret the Sabeans of the Saracens: and whether they may not design the Turks, in whose possession this country now is, and into whose hands the antichristian powers may be delivered by means of the Christians, both Jews and Gentiles, may be considered; for the Lord hath spoken it; and therefore it shall be accomplished. The Targum is, "for by the word of the Lord it is so decreed;'' whose counsels and decrees can never be frustrated. This, in an ancient book of the Jews called Mechilta, is referred to the prophecy of Noah concerning Canaan, whose sons inhabited Tyre, "a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren", Gen 9:25, as Jarchi observes. (g) Arriam. de Exped. Alexand. l. 2. c. 24. (h) Geograph. l. 16. p. 536. (i) Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 179, 180. (k) Ibid. p. 181. (l) Comment. in Jessiam, c. 43. 3. (m) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 23. (n) In Catena Graec. Patr. apud Spanhem. Hist. Jobi, c. 3. p. 47.