1:12 Indeed, the residents of Maroth 1 hope for something good to happen, 2
though the Lord has sent disaster against the city of Jerusalem. 3
1:14 Therefore you 4 will have to say farewell 5 to Moresheth Gath.
The residents 6 of Achzib 7 will be as disappointing
as a dried up well 8 to the kings of Israel. 9
2:2 They confiscate the fields they desire,
and seize the houses they want. 10
They defraud people of their homes, 11
and deprive people of the land they have inherited. 12
2:10 But you are the ones who will be forced to leave! 13
For this land is not secure! 14
Sin will thoroughly destroy it! 15
5:10 “In that day,” says the Lord,
“I will destroy 16 your horses from your midst,
and smash your chariots.
7:4 The best of them is like a thorn;
the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. 17
The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen –
your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, 18
and then you will experience confusion. 19
7:19 You will once again 20 have mercy on us;
you will conquer 21 our evil deeds;
you will hurl our 22 sins into the depths of the sea. 23
1 sn The place name Maroth sounds like the Hebrew word for “bitter.”
2 tc The translation assumes an emendation of חָלָה (khalah; from חִיל, khil, “to writhe”) to יִחֲלָה (yikhalah; from יָחַל, yakhal, “to wait”).
tn Heb “[the residents of Maroth] writhe [= “anxiously long for”?] good.”
3 tn Heb “though disaster has come down from the
4 tn The subject of the feminine singular verb is probably Lachish.
5 tn Heb “you will give a dowry to”; NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “give parting gifts to.” Lachish is compared to a father who presents wedding gifts to his daughter as she leaves her father’s home to take up residence with her husband. In similar fashion Lachish will bid farewell to Moresheth Gath, for the latter will be taken by the invader.
6 tn Heb “houses.” By metonymy this refers to the people who live in them.
7 sn The place name Achzib (אַכְזִיב, ’akhziv, “place on the dried up river”; see HALOT 45 s.v. אַכְזָב) creates a word play on the similar sounding term כָּזָב (kazav, “lie, deception”; HALOT 468 s.v. כָּזָב). Like the dried up river upon which its name was based, the city of Achzib would fail to help the kings of Israel in their time of need.
8 tn Or “will be a deception.” The term אַכְזָב (’akhzav) is often translated “deception,” as derived from the verb I כָּזָב (“to deceive, lie”; HALOT 467-68 s.v. I כזב). However, it probably means “what is dried up,” since (1) the noun elsewhere refers to an empty well or dried river in summer (Jer 15:18; cf. Job 6:15-20) (HALOT 45 s.v. אַכְזָב); (2) the place-name “Achzib” (אַכְזִיב) literally means “place on the אַכְזָב [dried up river]” (HALOT 45 s.v. אַכְזָב); and (3) it is derived from the verb II כָּזָב (“to dry up [brook]”; Isa 58:11), which also appears in Mishnaic Hebrew and Arabic. The point of the metaphor is that Achzib will be as disappointing to the kings of Israel as a dried up spring in the summer is to a thirsty traveler in the Jordanian desert.
9 sn Because of the enemy invasion, Achzib would not be able to deliver soldiers for the army and/or services normally rendered to the crown.
10 tn Heb “they desire fields and rob [them], and houses and take [them] away.”
11 tn Heb “and they oppress a man and his home.”
12 tn Heb “and a man and his inheritance.” The verb עָשַׁק (’ashaq, “to oppress”; “to wrong”) does double duty in the parallel structure and is understood by ellipsis in the second line.
13 tn Heb “Arise and go!” These imperatives are rhetorical. Those who wrongly drove widows and orphans from their homes and land inheritances will themselves be driven out of the land (cf. Isa 5:8-17). This is an example of poetic justice.
14 tn Heb “for this is no resting place.” The
15 tn Heb “uncleanness will destroy, and destruction will be severe.”
16 tn Heb “cut off” (also in the following verse).
17 tn Heb “[the] godly from a row of thorn bushes.” The preposition מִן (min) is comparative and the comparative element (perhaps “sharper” is the idea) is omitted. See BDB 582 s.v. 6 and GKC 431 §133.e.
18 tn Heb “the day of your watchmen, your appointed [time], is coming.” The present translation takes “watchmen” to refer to actual sentries. However, the “watchmen” could refer figuratively to the prophets who had warned Judah of approaching judgment. In this case one could translate, “The day your prophets warned about – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way.”
19 tn Heb “and now will be their confusion.”
20 tn The verb יָשׁוּב (yashuv, “he will return”) is here used adverbially in relation to the following verb, indicating that the
21 tn Some prefer to read יִכְבֹּס (yikhbos, “he will cleanse”; see HALOT 459 s.v. כבס pi). If the MT is taken as it stands, sin is personified as an enemy that the
22 tn Heb “their sins,” but the final mem (ם) may be enclitic rather than a pronominal suffix. In this case the suffix from the preceding line (“our”) may be understood as doing double duty.
23 sn In this metaphor the