22:6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood. 3 22:7 They have treated father and mother with contempt 4 within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow 5 within you. 22:8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths! 22:9 Slanderous men shed blood within you. 6 Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; 7 they commit obscene acts among you. 8
1 tn Heb “will you judge.” Here the imperfect form of the verb is probably used with a desiderative nuance. Addressed to the prophet, “judge” means to warn of or pronounce God’s impending judgment upon the city. See 20:4.
2 tn The phrase “bloody city” is used of Nineveh in Nah 3:1.
3 tn Heb “Look! The princes of Israel, each according to his arm, were in you in order to shed blood.”
4 tn Heb “treated lightly, cursed.”
5 tn Widows and orphans are often coupled together in the OT (Deut 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:19-21; 26:12-13; Jer 7:6; 22:3). They represented all who were poor and vulnerable to economic exploitation.
6 tn Heb “men of slander are in you in order to shed blood.”
7 tn Heb “and on the mountains they eat within you.” The mountains mentioned here were the site of pagan sacrifices. See 18:6.
8 sn This statement introduces vv. 10-11 and refers in general terms to the sexual sins described there. For the legal background of vv. 10-11, see Lev 18:7-20; 20:10-21; Deut 22:22-23, 30; 27:22.
9 tn Heb “usury and interest you take.” See 18:13, 17. This kind of economic exploitation violated the law given in Lev 25:36.
10 sn Forgetting the Lord is also addressed in Deut 6:12; 8:11, 14; Jer 3:21; 13:25; Ezek 23:35; Hos 2:15; 8:14; 13:6.
11 tn The second person verb forms are feminine singular in Hebrew, indicating that the personified city is addressed here as representing its citizens.