Joe 3:3-4 | NETfull | STEP | and they cast lots for my people. They traded a boy for a prostitute; they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink.

Joel 3:3-4

3 and they cast lots for my people.
They traded ^{▼▼ Heb “gave.”} a boy for a prostitute;
they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink. ^{▼▼ Heb “and they drank.” Joel vividly refers to a situation where innocent human life has little value; its only worth is its use in somehow satisfying selfish appetites of wicked people who have control over others (cf. Amos 2:6 and 8:6).}
4 Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon? ^{▼▼ Heb “What [are] you [doing] to me, O Tyre and Sidon?”}
Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia? ^{▼▼ Or “districts.”}
I will very quickly repay you for what you have done! ^{▼▼ Heb “quickly, speedily, I will return your recompense on your head.” This is an idiom for retributive justice and an equitable reversal of situation.}