Joel 3:7

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:

Joel 3:7 Meaning and Commentary

Joel 3:7

Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold
them
That is, bring them back to their own land, from their places whither they have been carried captive, and where they have dwelt in obscurity, and as if theft had been buried in graves, but now should be raised up and restored; and this their restoration will be as life from the dead. So the Targum,

``behold, I will bring them publicly from the place whither ye have sold them;''
this is to be understood, not of the same persons, but of their posterity, they being the same natural body. Kimchi interprets it of them and their children; them at the resurrection of the dead, their children at the time of salvation. Some think this had its accomplishment in Alexander and his successors, by whom the Jews, who had been detained captives in other countries, were set free; particularly by Demetrius, as Josephus F6 relates: though it may be applied to the future restoration of the Jews, out of all countries, unto their own land; or rather to the gathering together the spiritual Israel, or people of God, who have been persecuted from place to place by their antichristian enemies; and will return your recompence upon your own head;
do to them as they have done to others; pay them in their own coin; retaliate the wrongs done to his people; see ( Revelation 13:10 ) ( 18:6 ) .
FOOTNOTES:

F6 Antiqu. l. 13. c. 5.

Joel 3:7 In-Context

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."
9 Announce this to the godless nations: Prepare for battle! Soldiers at attention! Present arms! Advance!
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.