1:12 At that time I will search through Jerusalem with lamps.
I will punish the people who are entrenched in their sin, 1
those who think to themselves, 2
‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ 3
2:5 Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, 4 are as good as dead. 5
The Lord has decreed your downfall, 6 Canaan, land of the Philistines:
“I will destroy everyone who lives there!” 7
3:11 In that day you 8 will not be ashamed of all your rebelliousness against me, 9
for then I will remove from your midst those who proudly boast, 10
and you will never again be arrogant on my holy hill.
3:19 Look, at that time I will deal with those who mistreated you.
I will rescue the lame sheep 11
and gather together the scattered sheep.
I will take away their humiliation
and make the whole earth admire and respect them. 12
1 tn Heb “who thicken on their sediment.” The imagery comes from wine making, where the wine, if allowed to remain on the sediment too long, will thicken into syrup. The image suggests that the people described here were complacent in their sinful behavior and interpreted the delay in judgment as divine apathy.
2 tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”
3 tn Heb “The
4 tn Heb “Kerethites,” a people settled alongside the Philistines in the coastal areas of southern Palestine (cf. 1 Sam 30:14; Ezek 25:16). They originally came from the island of Crete.
5 tn Heb “Woe, inhabitants of the coast of the sea, nation of Kerethites.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “ah, woe”), is used to mourn the dead and express outwardly one’s sorrow (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5). By using it here the prophet mourns in advance the downfall of the Philistines, thereby emphasizing the certainty of their demise (“as good as dead”). Some argue the word does not have its earlier connotation here and is simply an attention-getting interjection, equivalent to “Hey!”
6 tn Heb “the word of the
7 tn Heb “I will destroy you so there is no inhabitant [remaining].”
8 sn The second person verbs and pronouns are feminine singular, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed here.
9 tn Heb “In that day you not be ashamed because of all your actions, [in] which you rebelled against me.”
10 tn Heb “the arrogant ones of your pride.”
11 tn The word “sheep” is supplied for clarification. As in Mic 4:6-7, the exiles are here pictured as injured and scattered sheep whom the divine shepherd rescues from danger.
12 tn Heb “I will make them into praise and a name, in all the earth, their shame.” The present translation assumes that “their shame” specifies “them” and that “name” stands here for a good reputation.