⁴ tn Heb “Why get involved in calamity and fall, you and Judah with you?”

¹ tn Heb “and Judah was struck down before Israel and they fled, each to his tent.”

¹ tn Heb “and Edom rebelled from under the hand of Judah until this day.”

³ tn Heb “if I did not lift up the face of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah.”

¹ tn Heb “the king of Israel and the king of Judah and the king of Edom.”

² tc Part of the Greek ms tradition lacks the words “of Judah.”

¹ tn Heb “This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Judah by their clans.”

² tn Heb “this was the border of the sons of Judah round about, by their clans.”

² tn Or “and he [i.e., Judah] was in Kezib when she gave birth to him.”

² sn The author does not say exactly where Elizabeth stayed. The location is given generally as a town of Judah. Judah is about a three day trip south of Nazareth.

³ tn The verb רוּד (rud, “to roam about freely”) is used in a concrete sense to refer to someone wandering restlessly and roaming back and forth (BDB 923 s.v. רוּד; Judg 11:37). Here, it is used figuratively, possibly with positive connotations, as indicated by the preposition עִם (ʿim, “with”), to indicate accompaniment: “but Judah still goes about with God” (HALOT 1194 s.v. רוד). Some English versions render it positively: “Judah still walks with God” (RSV, NRSV), “but Judah stands firm with God” (NJPS), and “but Judah yet ruleth with God” (KJV, ASV). Other English versions adopt the negative connotation “to wander restlessly” and nuance עִם in an adversative sense (“against”): “Judah is still rebellious against God” (NAB), “Judah is restive under God” (REB), “Judah is unruly against God” (NIV), and “the people of Judah are still rebelling against me” (TEV).

⁵ sn Judah’s victory over its enemies will be so thorough there will be more than enough plunder for everyone, even slow-moving lame men who would normally get left out in the rush to gather the loot.

¹ sn The tribe of Judah is listed first. It seems that it had already achieved a place of prominence based on the patriarchal promise of the Messiahship in Judah (Gen 49:10).

⁵ sn The name of the second staff, Union, refers to the relationship between Israel and Judah (cf. v. 14).

⁶ tn Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, represents the nation’s behavior. The rhetorical question expects an affirmative answer.

² tn Heb “among them.” The referent (the young men taken captive from Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹ sn In Ezek 4:4-8 it was said that the house of Judah would suffer 40 years.

⁴ tn The object is not specified in the Hebrew text, but has been clarified as “Judah” in the translation.

³ sn See further Jer 47:1-7 for the judgment against the Philistines. The Philistine cities were west of Judah.

¹ sn See further Jer 49:7-22 for the judgment against Edom. Edom, Moab, and Ammon were east of Judah.