Joel 3:6

6 and the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the children of the Greeks, that ye might remove them far from their border.

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 Yea also, what have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Zidon, and all the districts of Philistia? Will ye render me a recompence? But if ye recompense me, swiftly [and] speedily will I bring your recompence upon your own head;
5 because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my beautiful pleasant things,
6 and the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the children of the Greeks, that ye might remove them far from their border.
7 Behold, I will raise them up out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will bring your recompence upon your own head.
8 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 nation far off: for Jehovah hath spoken.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Heb. Javanim, Gen. 10.2.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.