1:13 You are too just 1 to tolerate 2 evil;
you are unable to condone 3 wrongdoing.
So why do you put up with such treacherous people? 4
Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour 5 those more righteous than they are? 6
3:13 You march out to deliver your people,
to deliver your special servant. 7
You strike the leader of the wicked nation, 8
laying him open from the lower body to the neck. 9 Selah.
1 tn Heb “[you] are too pure of eyes.” God’s “eyes” here signify what he looks at with approval. His “eyes” are “pure” in that he refuses to tolerate any wrongdoing in his presence.
2 tn Heb “to see.” Here “see” is figurative for “tolerate,” “put up with.”
3 tn Heb “to look at.” Cf. NEB “who canst not countenance wrongdoing”; NASB “You can not look on wickedness with favor.”
4 tn Heb “Why do you look at treacherous ones?” The verb בָּגַד (bagad, “be treacherous”) is often used of those who are disloyal or who violate agreements. See S. Erlandsson, TDOT 1:470-73.
5 tn Or “swallow up.”
6 tn Heb “more innocent than themselves.”
7 tn Heb “anointed one.” In light of the parallelism with “your people” in the preceding line this could refer to Israel, but elsewhere the Lord’s anointed one is always an individual. The Davidic king is the more likely referent here.
8 tn Heb “you strike the head from the house of wickedness.”
9 tn Heb “laying bare [from] foundation to neck.”