Joel 3:6

6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem into slavery to the Greeks in faraway places.

Joel 3:6 Meaning and Commentary

Joel 3:6

The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem
Not children in age literally, as Kimchi, kidnapped or bought by the Tyrians; but the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem: have ye sold unto the Grecians;
or sons of Javan; it was one part of the merchandise of Tyre to trade in the persons of men; and Javan, or the Greeks, with others, were their merchants for them, ( Ezekiel 27:13 ) ; and the souls of men are a part of the trade of the merchants of Rome, typified by the Tyrians, ( Revelation 18:13 ) ; that ye might remove them far from their border;
from their own land, or place of dwelling, that so they might not be easily redeemed, and return to it any more. Rome, the antichristian Tyre, trading with the souls of men, is to their eternal damnation, as much as in them lies. Cocceius interprets this of the children of the church being trained up in the doctrine of Aristotle, in the times of the schoolmen.

Joel 3:6 In-Context

4 "As for you, Tyre and Sidon and Philistia, why should I bother with you? Are you trying to get back at me for something I did to you? If you are, forget it. I'll see to it that it boomerangs on you.
5 You robbed me, cleaned me out of silver and gold, carted off everything valuable to furnish your own temples.
6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem into slavery to the Greeks in faraway places.
7 But I'm going to reverse your crime. I'm going to free those slaves. I'll have done to you what you did to them:
8 I'll sell your children as slaves to your neighbors, And they'll sell them to the far-off Sabeans."
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.