Joel 3:3

Cast - Worn-out; old; cast-off.

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.

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" Nahum 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.

3:3 Cast lots - It was customary with conquerors to divide the captives by lot, and so did these enemies of the Jews.