Joel 3:7

7 “See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them, and I will return on your own heads what you have done.

Joel 3:7 in Other Translations

KJV
7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:
ESV
7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will return your payment on your own head.
NLT
7 “But I will bring them back from all the places to which you sold them, and I will pay you back for everything you have done.
MSG
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:
CSB
7 Look, I am about to rouse them up from the place where you sold them; I will bring retribution on your heads.

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 For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures to your temples.
6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland.
7 “See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them, and I will return on your own heads what you have done.
8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.” The LORD has spoken.
9 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.

Cross References 2

  • 1. S Isaiah 43:5-6; Jeremiah 23:8
  • 2. S Isaiah 66:6
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.