3:9 Your bow is ready for action; 1
you commission your arrows. 2 Selah.
You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface. 3
3:14 You pierce the heads of his warriors 4 with a spear. 5
They storm forward to scatter us; 6
they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition. 7
1 tn Heb “[into] nakedness your bow is laid bare.”
2 tn Heb “sworn in are the arrow-shafts with a word.” The passive participle of שָׁבַע (shava’), “swear an oath,” also occurs in Ezek 21:23 ET (21:28 HT) referencing those who have sworn allegiance. Here the
3 tn Heb “[with] rivers you split open the earth.” A literal rendering like “You split the earth with rivers” (so NIV, NRSV) suggests geological activity to the modern reader, but in the present context of a violent thunderstorm, the idea of streams swollen to torrents by downpours better fits the imagery.
4 tn Some take “warriors” with the following line, in which case one should translate, “you pierce [his] head with a spear; his warriors storm forward to scatter us” (cf. NIV). The meaning of the Hebrew term פְּרָזוֹ (pÿrazo), translated here “his warriors,” is uncertain.
5 tc Heb “his shafts.” Some emend to “your shafts.” The translation above assumes an emendation to מַטֶּה (matteh, “shaft, spear”), the vav-yod (ו-י) sequence being a corruption of an original he (ה).
6 tn Heb “me,” but the author speaks as a representative of God’s people.
7 tn Heb “their rejoicing is like devouring the poor in secret.”