2:4 In that day people will sing this taunt song to you –
they will mock you with this lament: 1
‘We are completely destroyed;
they sell off 2 the property of my people.
How they remove it from me! 3
They assign our fields to the conqueror.’ 4
5:3 So the Lord 5 will hand the people of Israel 6 over to their enemies 7
until the time when the woman in labor 8 gives birth. 9
Then the rest of the king’s 10 countrymen will return
to be reunited with the people of Israel. 11
1 tc The form נִהְיָה (nihyah) should be omitted as dittographic (note the preceding וְנָהָה נְהִי vÿnahah nÿhiy).
tn Heb “one will lament [with] a lamentation [and] say.”
2 tn Or “exchange.” The LXX suggests a reading יִמַּד (yimmad) from מָדַד (madad, “to measure”). In this case one could translate, “the property of my people is measured out [i.e., for resale].”
3 tn Heb “how one removes for me.” Apparently the preposition has the nuance “from” here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
4 tc The Hebrew term שׁוֹבֵב (shovev, “the one turning back”) elsewhere has the nuance “apostate” (cf. NASB) or “traitor” (cf. NIV). The translation assumes an emendation to שָׁבָה (shavah, “captor”).
tn Heb “to the one turning back he assigns our fields.”
5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
6 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people of Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
8 sn The woman in labor. Personified, suffering Jerusalem is the referent. See 4:9-10.
9 sn Gives birth. The point of the figurative language is that Jerusalem finally finds relief from her suffering. See 4:10.
10 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Heb “to the sons of Israel.” The words “be reunited with” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
sn The rest of the king’s brothers are the coming king’s fellow Judahites, while the sons of Israel are the northern tribes. The verse pictures the reunification of the nation under the Davidic king. See Isa 11:12-13; Jer 31:2-6, 15-20; Ezek 37; Hos 1:11; 3:5.