2:22 Stop trusting in human beings,
whose life’s breath is in their nostrils.
For why should they be given special consideration?
3:15 Why do you crush my people
and grind the faces of the poor?” 1
The sovereign Lord who commands armies 2 has spoken.
51:12 “I, I am the one who consoles you. 3
Why are you afraid of mortal men,
of mere human beings who are as short-lived as grass? 4
1 sn The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s outrage at what the leaders have done to the poor. He finds it almost unbelievable that they would have the audacity to treat his people in this manner.
2 tn Heb “the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” On the title “the Lord who commands armies,” see the note at 1:9.
sn The use of this title, which also appears in v. 1, forms an inclusio around vv. 1-15. The speech begins and ends with a reference to “the master, the Lord who commands armies.”
3 tc The plural suffix should probably be emended to the second masculine singular (which is used in v. 13). The final mem (ם) is probably dittographic; note the mem at the beginning of the next word.
4 tn Heb “Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, and of the son of man who [as] grass is given up?” The feminine singular forms should probably be emended to the masculine singular (see v. 13). They have probably been influenced by the construction אַתְּ־הִיא (’at-hi’) in vv. 9-10.