4:8 As for you, watchtower for the flock, 1
fortress of Daughter Zion 2 –
your former dominion will be restored, 3
the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.
4:9 Jerusalem, why are you 4 now shouting so loudly? 5
Has your king disappeared? 6
Has your wise leader 7 been destroyed?
Is this why 8 pain grips 9 you as if you were a woman in labor?
4:10 Twist and strain, 10 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 11 you
from the power 12 of your enemies.
1 tn Heb “Migdal-eder.” Some English versions transliterate this phrase, apparently because they view it as a place name (cf. NAB).
2 sn The city of David, located within Jerusalem, is addressed as Daughter Zion. As the home of the Davidic king, who was Israel’s shepherd (Ps 78:70-72), the royal citadel could be viewed metaphorically as the watchtower of the flock.
3 tn Heb “to you it will come, the former dominion will arrive.”
4 tn The Hebrew form is feminine singular, indicating that Jerusalem, personified as a young woman, is now addressed (see v. 10). In v. 8 the tower/fortress was addressed with masculine forms, so there is clearly a shift in addressee here. “Jerusalem” has been supplied in the translation at the beginning of v. 9 to make this shift apparent.
5 tn Heb “Now why are you shouting [with] a shout.”
6 tn Heb “Is there no king over you?”
7 tn Traditionally, “counselor” (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This refers to the king mentioned in the previous line; the title points to the king’s roles as chief strategist and policy maker, both of which required extraordinary wisdom.
8 tn Heb “that.” The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is used here in a resultative sense; for this use see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.
9 tn Heb “grabs hold of, seizes.”
10 tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”
11 tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
12 tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.