Joel 3:7 (DRB)

Passage

Behold, I will raise them up out of the place wherein you have sold them: and I will return your recompense upon your own heads.

Nearby Context

Joel 3:5 For you have taken away my silver, and my gold: and my desirable, and most beautiful things you have carried into your temples.

Joel 3:6 And the children of Juda, and the children of Jerusalem, you have sold to the children of the Greeks, that you might remove them far off from their own country.

Joel 3:7 Behold, I will raise them up out of the place wherein you have sold them: and I will return your recompense upon your own heads.

Joel 3:8 And I will sell your sons, and your daughters, by the hands of the children of Juda, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far off, for the Lord hath spoken it.

Joel 3:9 Proclaim ye this among the nations: Prepare war, raise up the strong: let them come, let all the men of war come up.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "behold", "raise", "place", "wherein", "sold", "return", "recompense", and "upon". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "behold" and "raise", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "And the children of Juda and the..." into verse 8's "And I will sell your sons and...", so "behold" and "raise" 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 "behold" and "raise" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.