2:3 Therefore the Lord says this: “Look, I am devising disaster for this nation! 1
It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck. 2
You will no longer 3 walk proudly,
for it will be a time of catastrophe.
3:12 Therefore, because of you, 4 Zion will be plowed up like 5 a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
and the Temple Mount 6 will become a hill overgrown with brush! 7
4:12 But they do not know what the Lord is planning;
they do not understand his strategy.
He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed 8 at the threshing floor.
7:10 When my enemies see this, they will be covered with shame.
They say 9 to me, “Where is the Lord your God?”
I will gloat over them. 10
Then they will be trampled down 11
like mud in the streets.
7:18 There is no other God like you! 12
You 13 forgive sin
and pardon 14 the rebellion
of those who remain among your people. 15
You do not remain angry forever, 16
but delight in showing loyal love.
1 tn Heb “clan” or “extended family.”
2 tn Heb “from which you will not remove your neck.” The words “It will be like a yoke” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
3 tn Or “you will not.”
4 tn The plural pronoun refers to the leaders, priests, and prophets mentioned in the preceding verse.
5 tn Or “into” (an adverbial accusative of result).
6 tn Heb “the mountain of the house” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).
7 tn Heb “a high place of overgrowth.”
8 tn The words “to be threshed” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation to make it clear that the
9 tn Heb “who say.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
10 tn Heb “My eyes will look on them.”
11 tn Heb “a trampled-down place.”
12 tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”
13 tn Heb “one who.” The prayer moves from direct address (second person) in v. 18a to a descriptive (third person) style in vv. 18b-19a and then back to direct address (second person) in vv. 19b-20. Due to considerations of English style and the unfamiliarity of the modern reader with alternation of persons in Hebrew poetry, the entire section has been rendered as direct address (second person) in the translation.
14 tn Heb “pass over.”
15 tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”
16 tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”