And have cast lots for my people: This line and the last two lines of verse 2 belong together in Hebrew as parallel lines of poetry. The Hebrew verb rendered cast lots is another term used at the time Israel first settled in the land. Individual ownership of the divided land was assigned to individuals on the basis of casting lots. It is believed that this involved sacred stones, the Urim and Thummim, which were drawn from or shaken out of a container, and the decision would be determined by the stone that came out first. Good News Translation says “threw dice,” which reflects a similar but more modern way of accomplishing the same purpose. Dice may have been known in Joel’s time, but the passage clearly reflects the ancient Israelite practice of casting lots. Some cultures have a custom of drawing sticks, with the same function. Again, it was heartbreaking to see the enemies using that ancient tradition, but for the purpose of dividing the people among them as slaves, almost as if they were real estate.

And have given a boy for a harlot: This means that the boy had become someone’s slave, and then the owner of the boy traded him to pay a harlot, a prostitute, for the time spent in sexual intercourse. Implied here is the cheap value placed on humans, since the boy’s very person and his freedom were exchanged for a moment of pleasure with a prostitute. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “And they bartered a boy for a whore,” while Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “A person paid with a youngster for a night with a prostitute.”

And have sold a girl for wine, and have drunk it is parallel with the previous line. It means that the value of the girl on the slave market was used to buy wine, which was drunk and gone in a moment. In this way the value of the girl’s very person was made cheap. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “a person has sold a girl for the wine of a drinking party.” For wine see 1.5.

The Hebrew words for boy and girl refer to young children, usually reflecting the fact that they are the offspring of their parents, but older than infants. In these two parallel lines, a boy and a girl correspond to each other, as do for a harlot and for wine. Good News Translation has restructured these lines so that “boys and girls” occur together, as do “prostitutes and wine.” It does not express and have drunk it because this is implied in buying the wine. However, in Hebrew this clause emphasizes the heartless treatment by the enemies as they gave no more thought to the value of a girl than the wine they drank. Every translator will need to find a suitable expression that will reflect this pathetic situation in which innocent human life has no value.

Quoted with permission from de Blois, Kees & Dorn, Louis. A Handbook on Joel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .