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.

and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

And they have cast lots upon my people: and the boy they have put in the stews, and the girl they have sold for wine, that they might drink.

and they have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, and have drunk it.

And for My people they do cast a lot, And they give the young man for an harlot, And the young woman have sold for wine, That they may drink.

And they have put the fate of my people to the decision of chance: giving a boy for the price of a loose woman and a girl for a drink of wine.

And they have cast lots over my people; and the boy they have placed in the brothel, and the girl they have sold for wine, so that they might drink.

Et super populo meo jecerunt sortem et posuerunt, puerum pro scorto (hoc est, addixerunt pro scorto) et pullam vendiderunt pro vino ut biberunt.

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.

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 for my people; and have (c) given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
(c) That which the enemy received for the sale of my people, they bestowed upon harlots and drink.

And they have cast lots for my people,.... Not only parted their land, but cast lots for their persons, Or played at dice for them, how many captives each soldier should have, and which should be their share and property: ninety seven thousand Jews, Josephus (d) says, were carried captive by the Romans, who, very probably, cast lots for them, as was usual in such cases; see Nahum 3:10;
and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink; either they gave a boy to be prostituted to natural lusts, in lieu of a whore; and a girl to be debauched for a bottle of wine: or they gave a boy for the price of a whore, as the Targum and Kimchi interpret it; that is, they gave a boy, instead of money, to a whore, to lie with her, as the eunuch was given to Thais; and they gave a girl to the wine merchant for as much wine as they could drink at one sitting. These phrases both express their uncleanness and intemperance, and also the low price and value they set upon their captives; and is applicable enough to the Papists, notorious for the same abominable lusts.
(d) De Bello Jude. l. 6. c. 9. sect. 3.

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 (Obadiah 1:11; Nahum 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.

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