Joel 3:8

Yousold the children of Judah into slavery to a nation far off in the North West; Iwill sell your children into the hand of the Judahites, that they may sell them into slavery to a nation far off in the South East.

the men of Sheba] an important commercial nation of Arabia, described as a -son" of Cush, Genesis 10:7, of Yoḳṭan, Genesis 10:28, and of Yoḳshan son of Ḳeṭurah, Genesis 25:3; celebrated for their wealth in gold, spices, and precious stones, 1 Kings 10:2; 1 Kings 10:10 (the Queen of Sheba), Jeremiah 6:20; Ezekiel 27:22; Isaiah 60:6; Psalms 72:15 (cf. Joel 3:10), and for the trade which their caravans (Job 6:19) carried on, Ezekiel 27:22 f., Ezekiel 38:13. The ancient geographers speak of Sabaeans in the S.W. of Arabia; and recently discovered inscriptions and other monuments shew that they were no mere trading-tribe, but a people inhabiting walled cities, possessing temples and other buildings, and enjoying a settled civilization. Sheba is mentioned also in the Assyrian inscriptions (K.A.T[49][50] pp. 92, 145 f.). The difference in the genealogies of Sheba is to be explained, probably, partly by the fact that (as in other cases) different theories were current respecting its ethnological affinities, partly by the fact that in Genesis 10:7; Genesis 25:3, if not also in Ezekiel 38:13, a Northern colony, in the neighbourhood of Dedan (S.E. of Edom), is referred to.

[49] .A.T.… Eb. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das A. T., ed. 2, 1883 (translated under the title The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the O. T. 1885, 1888). The references are to the pagination of the German, which is given on the margin of the English translation.

[50] … Eb. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das A. T., ed. 2, 1883 (translated under the title The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the O. T. 1885, 1888). The references are to the pagination of the German, which is given on the margin of the English translation.

far off comp. the corresponding verb (to make to be far off) in Joel 3:6: note also in Jeremiah 6:20 -a far country" in parallelism with -Sheba."

for Jehovah hath spokenit] a solemn asseverative formula, found also Isaiah 1:2; Isaiah 22:25; Isaiah 25:8; Obadiah 1:18: so with the mouth of Jehovah, Isaiah 1:20; Isaiah 40:5; Isaiah 58:14; Micah 4:4.