Joel 3:8 (DBY)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

Joel 3:6 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 3:7 Behold, I will raise them up out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will bring your recompence upon your own head.

Joel 3:8 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.

Joel 3:9 Proclaim this among the nations: prepare war, arouse the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.

Joel 3:10 Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-knives into spears; let the weak say, I am strong.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "sell", "sons", "daughters", "hand", "children", "judah", and "shall". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "sell" and "sons", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 7's "Behold I will raise them up out..." into verse 9's "Proclaim this among the nations prepare war...", so "sell" and "sons" 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 "sell" and "sons" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.