1:4 The mountains will disintegrate 1 beneath him,
and the valleys will be split in two. 2
The mountains will melt 3 like wax in a fire,
the rocks will slide down like water cascading down a steep slope. 4
1:8 For this reason I 5 will mourn and wail;
I will walk around barefoot 6 and without my outer garments. 7
I will howl 8 like a wild dog, 9
and screech 10 like an owl. 11
3:3 You 12 devour my people’s flesh,
strip off their skin,
and crush their bones.
You chop them up like flesh in a pot 13 –
like meat in a kettle.
7:17 They will lick the dust like a snake,
like serpents crawling on the ground. 14
They will come trembling from their strongholds
to the Lord our God; 15
they will be terrified 16 of you. 17
1 tn Or “melt” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). This is a figurative description of earthquakes, landslides, and collapse of the mountains, rather than some sort of volcanic activity (note the remainder of the verse).
2 sn The mountains will disintegrate…the valleys will be split in two. This imagery pictures an earthquake and accompanying landslide.
3 tn The words “the mountains will melt” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The simile extends back to the first line of the verse.
4 tn The words “the rocks will slide down” are supplied in the translation for clarification. This simile elaborates on the prior one and further develops the imagery of the verse’s first line.
5 tn The prophet is probably the speaker here.
6 tn Or “stripped.” The precise meaning of this Hebrew word is unclear. It may refer to walking barefoot (see 2 Sam 15:30) or to partially stripping oneself (see Job 12:17-19).
7 tn Heb “naked.” This probably does not refer to complete nudity, but to stripping off one’s outer garments as an outward sign of the destitution felt by the mourner.
8 tn Heb “I will make lamentation.”
9 tn Or “a jackal”; CEV “howling wolves.”
10 tn Heb “[make] a mourning.”
11 tn Or perhaps “ostrich” (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
12 tn Heb “who.”
13 tc The MT reads “and they chop up as in a pot.” The translation assumes an emendation of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher, “as”) to כִּשְׁאֵר (kish’er, “like flesh”).
14 tn Heb “like crawling things on the ground.” The parallelism suggests snakes are in view.
15 tn Thetranslationassumesthatthe phrase אֶל־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ (’el-yÿhvah ’elohenu, “to the
16 tn Heb “they will be in dread and afraid.”
17 tn The