3:21 “A noise is heard on the hilltops.
It is the sound of the people of Israel crying and pleading to their gods.
Indeed they have followed sinful ways; 1
they have forgotten to be true to the Lord their God. 2
4:5 The Lord said, 3
“Announce 4 this in Judah and proclaim it in Jerusalem: 5
‘Sound the trumpet 6 throughout the land!’
Shout out loudly,
‘Gather together! Let us flee into the fortified cities!’
6:1 “Run for safety, people of Benjamin!
Get out of Jerusalem! 7
Sound the trumpet 8 in Tekoa!
Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!
For disaster lurks 9 out of the north;
it will bring great destruction. 10
6:17 The Lord said, 11
“I appointed prophets as watchmen to warn you, 12 saying:
‘Pay attention to the warning sound of the trumpet!’” 13
But they said, “We will not pay attention!”
9:19 For the sound of wailing is soon to be heard in Zion.
They will wail, 14 ‘We are utterly ruined! 15 We are completely disgraced!
For our houses have been torn down
and we must leave our land.’” 16
1 tn Heb “A sound is heard on the hilltops, the weeping of the supplication of the children of Israel because [or indeed] they have perverted their way.” At issue here is whether the supplication is made to Yahweh in repentance because of what they have done or whether it is supplication to the pagan gods which is evidence of their perverted ways. The reference in this verse to the hilltops where idolatry was practiced according to 3:2 and the reference to Israel’s unfaithfulness in the preceding verse make the latter more likely. For the asseverative use of the Hebrew particle (here rendered “indeed”) where the particle retains some of the explicative nuance; cf. BDB 472-73 s.v. כִּי 1.e and 3.c.
2 tn Heb “have forgotten the
3 tn The words “The
4 tn It is unclear who the addressees of the masculine plural imperatives are here. They may be the citizens of Jerusalem and Judah who are sounding the alarm to others. However, the first person reference to the
5 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
6 tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.
7 tn Heb “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem.”
sn Compare and contrast Jer 4:6. There people in the outlying areas were warned to seek safety in the fortified city of Jerusalem. Here they are told to flee it because it was about to be destroyed.
map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
8 tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.
9 tn Heb “leans down” or “looks down.” This verb personifies destruction leaning/looking down from its window in the sky, ready to attack.
10 tn Heb “[It will be] a severe fracture.” The nation is pictured as a limb being fractured.
sn This passage is emotionally charged. There are two examples of assonance or wordplay in the verse: “sound” (Heb tiq’u, “blow”), which has the same consonants as “Tekoa” (Heb uvitqoa’), and “signal fire,” which comes from the same root as “light” (Heb sÿ’u mas’et, “lift up”). There is also an example of personification where disaster is said to “lurk” (Heb “look down on”) out of the north. This gives a sense of urgency and concern for the coming destruction.
11 tn These words are not in the text but are implicit in the interchange of pronouns in the Hebrew of vv. 16-17. They are supplied in the translation here for clarity.
12 tn Heb “I appointed watchmen over you.”
13 tn Heb “Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet.” The word “warning” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
14 tn The words “They will wail” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to make clear that this is the wailing that will be heard.
sn The destruction is still in the future, but it is presented graphically as though it had already taken place.
15 tn Heb “How we are ruined!”
16 tn The order of these two lines has been reversed for English stylistic reasons. The text reads in Hebrew “because we have left our land because they have thrown down our dwellings.” The two clauses offer parallel reasons for the cries “How ruined we are! [How] we are greatly disgraced!” But the first line must contain a prophetic perfect (because the lament comes from Jerusalem) and the second a perfect referring to a destruction that is itself future. This seems the only way to render the verse that would not be misleading.