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Selected Verse: Joel 3:3 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Joe 3:3	King James	And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
cast lots for my people--that is, divided among themselves My people as their captives by lot. Compare as to the distribution of captives by lot (Oba 1:11; Nah 3:10). given a boy for . . . harlot--Instead of paying a harlot for her prostitution in money, they gave her a Jewish captive boy as a slave. girl for wine--So valueless did they regard a Jewish girl that they would sell her for a draught of wine.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

cast lots for my people--that is, divided among themselves My people as their captives by lot. Compare as to the distribution of captives by lot (Oba 1:11; Nah 3:10).

given a boy for . . . harlot--Instead of paying a harlot for her prostitution in money, they gave her a Jewish captive boy as a slave.

girl for wine--So valueless did they regard a Jewish girl that they would sell her for a draught of wine.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
And they have cast lots - They treated God's people as of no account, and delighted in showing their contempt toward them. They chose no one above another, as though all alike were worthless. "They cast lots," it is said elsewhere, "upon their honorable men" Nah 3:10, as a special indignity, above captivity or slavery. A "girl" they sold for an evening's revelry, and a "boy" they exchanged for a night's debauch.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

And they have cast lots - They treated God's people as of no account, and delighted in showing their contempt toward them. They chose no one above another, as though all alike were worthless. "They cast lots," it is said elsewhere, "upon their honorable men" Nah 3:10, as a special indignity, above captivity or slavery. A "girl" they sold for an evening's revelry, and a "boy" they exchanged for a night's debauch.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Cast lots - It was customary with conquerors to divide the captives by lot, and so did these enemies of the Jews.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]

Cast lots - It was customary with conquerors to divide the captives by lot, and so did these enemies of the Jews.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Have given a boy for a harlot - To such wretched circumstances were the poor Jews reduced in their captivity, that their children were sold by their oppressors; and both males and females used for the basest purposes. And they were often bartered for the necessaries or luxuries of life. Or this may refer to the issue of the Chaldean war in Judea, where the captives were divided among the victors. And being set in companies, they cast lots for them: and those to whom they fell sold them for various purposes; the boys to be slaves and catamites, the girls to be prostitutes; and in return for them they got wine and such things. I think this is the meaning of the text.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826

Have given a boy for a harlot - To such wretched circumstances were the poor Jews reduced in their captivity, that their children were sold by their oppressors; and both males and females used for the basest purposes. And they were often bartered for the necessaries or luxuries of life. Or this may refer to the issue of the Chaldean war in Judea, where the captives were divided among the victors. And being set in companies, they cast lots for them: and those to whom they fell sold them for various purposes; the boys to be slaves and catamites, the girls to be prostitutes; and in return for them they got wine and such things. I think this is the meaning of the text.

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