Joel 3:7 (KJV)

Passage

Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:

Nearby Context

Joel 3:5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

Joel 3:6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

Joel 3:7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return 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 people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

Joel 3:9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "behold", "raise", "place", "whither", "sold", "return", "recompence", 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 "The children also of Judah 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.