16:20 “‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them 1 as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution not enough,
5:8 They are like lusty, well-fed 5 stallions.
Each of them lusts after 6 his neighbor’s wife.
1 sn The sacrifice of children was prohibited in Lev 18:21; 20:2; Deut 12:31; 18:10.
2 tn Heb “your neighbors, large of flesh.” The word “flesh” is used here of the genitals. It may simply refer to the size of their genitals in general, or, as the translation suggests, depicts them as sexually aroused.
3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the member of the royal family, v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn The meanings of these two adjectives are uncertain. The translation of the first adjective is based on assuming that the word is a defectively written participle related to the noun “testicle” (a Hiphil participle מַאֲשִׁכִים [ma’ashikhim] from a verb related to אֶשֶׁךְ [’eshekh, “testicle”]; cf. Lev 21:20) and hence “having testicles” (cf. HALOT 1379 s.v. שָׁכָה) instead of the Masoretic form מַשְׁכִּים (mashkim) from a root שָׁכָה (shakhah), which is otherwise unattested in either verbal or nominal forms. The second adjective is best derived from a verb root meaning “to feed” (a Hophal participle מוּזָנִים [muzanim, the Kethib] from a root זוּן [zun; cf. BDB 266 s.v. זוּן] for which there is the cognate noun מָזוֹן [mazon; cf. 2 Chr 11:23]). This is more likely than the derivation from a root יָזַן ([yazan]reading מְיֻזָּנִים [mÿyuzzanim], a Pual participle with the Qere) which is otherwise unattested in verbal or nominal forms and whose meaning is dependent only on a supposed Arabic cognate (cf. HALOT 387 s.v. יָזַן).
6 tn Heb “neighs after.”