1:14 So I will set fire to Rabbah’s 1 city wall; 2
fire 3 will consume her fortresses.
War cries will be heard on the day of battle; 4
a strong gale will blow on the day of the windstorm. 5
2:9 For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites. 6
They were as tall as cedars 7
and as strong as oaks,
but I destroyed the fruit on their branches 8
and their roots in the ground. 9
1 sn Rabbah was the Ammonite capital.
2 sn The city wall symbolizes the city’s defenses and security.
3 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “with a war cry in the day of battle.”
5 tn Heb “with wind in the day of the windstorm.”
sn A windstorm is a metaphor for judgment and destruction in the OT (see Isa 29:6; Jer 23:19) and ancient Near Eastern literature.
6 tn Heb “I destroyed the Amorites from before them.” The translation takes מִפְּנֵי (mippÿney) in the sense of “for the sake of.” See BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֻה II.6.a and H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos (Hermeneia), 134. Another option is to take the phrase in a spatial sense, “I destroyed the Amorites, [clearing them out] from before them [i.e., Israel]” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
7 tn Heb “whose height was like the height of cedars.”
8 tn Heb “his fruit from above.”
9 tn Heb “and his roots from below.”