3:5 This is what the Lord says: “The prophets who mislead my people
are as good as dead. 1
If someone gives them enough to eat,
they offer an oracle of peace. 2
But if someone does not give them food,
they are ready to declare war on him. 3
4:10 Twist and strain, 4 Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!
For you will leave the city
and live in the open field.
You will go to Babylon,
but there you will be rescued.
There the Lord will deliver 5 you
from the power 6 of your enemies.
4:13 “Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion!
For I will give you iron horns; 7
I will give you bronze hooves,
and you will crush many nations.” 8
You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them,
and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler 9 of the whole earth. 10
5:3 So the Lord 11 will hand the people of Israel 12 over to their enemies 13
until the time when the woman in labor 14 gives birth. 15
Then the rest of the king’s 16 countrymen will return
to be reunited with the people of Israel. 17
5:7 Those survivors from 18 Jacob will live 19
in the midst of many nations. 20
They will be like the dew the Lord sends,
like the rain on the grass,
that does not hope for men to come
or wait around for humans to arrive. 21
7:9 I must endure 22 the Lord’s anger,
for I have sinned against him.
But then 23 he will defend my cause, 24
and accomplish justice on my behalf.
He will lead me out into the light;
I will experience firsthand 25 his deliverance. 26
1 tn Heb “concerning the prophets, those who mislead my people.” The first person pronominal suffix is awkward in a quotation formula that introduces the words of the
2 tn Heb “those who bite with their teeth and cry out, ‘peace.’” The phrase “bite with the teeth” is taken here as idiomatic for eating. Apparently these prophets were driven by mercenary motives. If they were paid well, they gave positive oracles to their clients, but if someone could not afford to pay them, they were hostile and delivered oracles of doom.
3 tn Heb “but [as for the one] who does not place [food] in their mouths, they prepare for war against him.”
4 tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”
5 tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
6 tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.
7 tn Heb “I will make your horn iron.”
8 sn Jerusalem (Daughter Zion at the beginning of the verse; cf. 4:8) is here compared to a powerful ox which crushes the grain on the threshing floor with its hooves.
9 tn Or “the Lord” (so many English versions); Heb “the master.”
10 tn Heb “and their wealth to the master of all the earth.” The verb “devote” does double duty in the parallelism and is supplied in the second line for clarification.
sn In vv. 11-13 the prophet jumps from the present crisis (which will result in exile, v. 10) to a time beyond the restoration of the exiles when God will protect his city from invaders. The
11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
12 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people of Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
14 sn The woman in labor. Personified, suffering Jerusalem is the referent. See 4:9-10.
15 sn Gives birth. The point of the figurative language is that Jerusalem finally finds relief from her suffering. See 4:10.
16 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 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.
18 tn Heb “the remnant of” (also in v. 8).
19 tn Heb “will be.”
20 tn This could mean “(scattered) among the nations” (cf. CEV, NLT) or “surrounded by many nations” (cf. NRSV).
21 tn Heb “that does not hope for man, and does not wait for the sons of men.”
sn Men wait eagerly for the dew and the rain, not vice versa. Just as the dew and rain are subject to the
22 tn Heb “lift, bear.”
23 tn Heb “until.”
24 tn Or “plead my case” (NASB and NIV both similar); NRSV “until he takes my side.”
25 tn Heb “see.”
26 tn Or “justice, vindication.”