1:8 For this reason I 1 will mourn and wail;
I will walk around barefoot 2 and without my outer garments. 3
I will howl 4 like a wild dog, 5
and screech 6 like an owl. 7
6:6 With what should I 8 enter the Lord’s presence?
With what 9 should I bow before the sovereign God? 10
Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings,
with year-old calves?
1 tn The prophet is probably the speaker here.
2 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).
3 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.
4 tn Heb “I will make lamentation.”
5 tn Or “a jackal”; CEV “howling wolves.”
6 tn Heb “[make] a mourning.”
7 tn Or perhaps “ostrich” (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
8 sn With what should I enter the
9 tn The words “with what” do double duty in the parallelism and are supplied in the second line of the translation for clarification.
10 tn Or “the exalted God.”