9:30 Jehu approached Jezreel. When Jezebel heard the news, she put on some eye liner, 1 fixed up her hair, and leaned out the window.
4:30 And you, Zion, city doomed to destruction, 2
you accomplish nothing 3 by wearing a beautiful dress, 4
decking yourself out in jewels of gold,
and putting on eye shadow! 5
You are making yourself beautiful for nothing.
Your lovers spurn you.
They want to kill you. 6
1 tn Heb “she fixed her eyes with antimony.” Antimony (פּוּךְ, pukh) was used as a cosmetic. The narrator portrays her as a prostitute (see Jer 4:30), a role she has played in the spiritual realm (see the note at v. 22).
2 tn Heb “And you that are doomed to destruction.” The referent is supplied from the following context and the fact that Zion/Jerusalem represents the leadership which was continually making overtures to foreign nations for help.
3 tn Heb “What are you accomplishing…?” The rhetorical question assumes a negative answer, made clear by the translation in the indicative.
4 tn Heb “clothing yourself in scarlet.”
5 tn Heb “enlarging your eyes with antimony.” Antimony was a black powder used by women as eyeliner to make their eyes look larger.
6 tn Heb “they seek your life.”