2:10 But you are the ones who will be forced to leave! 1
For this land is not secure! 2
Sin will thoroughly destroy it! 3
5:1 (4:14) 4 But now slash yourself, 5 daughter surrounded by soldiers! 6
We are besieged!
With a scepter 7 they strike Israel’s ruler 8
on the side of his face.
7:7 But I will keep watching for the Lord;
I will wait for the God who delivers me.
My God will hear my lament. 9
1 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.
2 tn Heb “for this is no resting place.” The
3 tn Heb “uncleanness will destroy, and destruction will be severe.”
4 sn Beginning with 5:1, the verse numbers through 5:15 in the English Bible differ by one from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 5:1 ET = 4:14 HT, 5:2 ET = 5:1 HT, 5:3 ET = 5:2 HT, etc., through 5:15 ET = 5:14 HT. From 6:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.
5 tn The Hebrew verb גָדַד (gadad) can be translated “slash yourself” or “gather in troops.” A number of English translations are based on the latter meaning (e.g., NASB, NIV, NLT).
sn Slash yourself. Slashing one’s body was a form of mourning. See Deut 14:1; 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5.
6 tn Heb “daughter of a troop of warriors.”
sn The daughter surrounded by soldiers is an image of the city of Jerusalem under siege (note the address “Daughter Jerusalem” in 4:8).
7 tn Or “staff”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “rod”; CEV “stick”; NCV “club.”
sn Striking a king with a scepter, a symbol of rulership, would be especially ironic and humiliating.
8 tn Traditionally, “the judge of Israel” (so KJV, NASB).
9 tn Heb “me.” In the interest of clarity the nature of the prophet’s cry has been specified as “my lament” in the translation.