Joel 3:5 (ASV)

Passage

Forasmuch as ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly precious things,

Nearby Context

Joel 3:3 and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

Joel 3:4 Yea, and what are ye to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head.

Joel 3:5 Forasmuch as ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly precious things,

Joel 3:6 and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem unto the sons of the Grecians, that ye may remove them far from their border;

Joel 3:7 behold, I will stir them up out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "forasmuch", "taken", "silver", "gold", "carried", "temples", "goodly", and "precious". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "forasmuch" and "taken", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "Yea and what are ye to me..." into verse 6's "and have sold the children of Judah...", so "forasmuch" and "taken" belong inside that flow. In Joel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "forasmuch" and "taken" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.