5:2 Those who revolt are knee-deep in slaughter, 1
but I will discipline them all. 2
6:9 The company of priests is like a gang of robbers,
lying in ambush to pounce on a victim.
They commit murder on the road to Shechem;
they have done heinous crimes!
מ (Mem)
4:13 But it happened 3 due to the sins of her prophets 4
and the iniquities of her priests,
who poured out in her midst
the blood of the righteous.
7:1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things true?” 11
1 tc The MT reads וְשַׁחֲטָה שֵׂטִים הֶעְמִיקוּ (vÿshakhatah setim he’miqu): “and rebels have made deep the slaughter.” The BHS editors propose ושַׁחַת הַשִּׁטִּים הֶעְמִיקוּ (vÿshakhat hashittim he’miqu): “they have made the pit of Shittim [place of idolatry] deep” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT; see BDB 1006 s.v. שַׁחֲטָּה). This involves: (1) phonological confusion between the similar sounding consonants ת (tav) and ט (tet), (2) redivision of words to take ה (hey) as the article with הַשִּׁטִּים rather than feminine noun ending of וְשַׁחֲטָה, and (3) revocalization of הַשִּׁטִּים with the two daghesh fortes. Retaining the reading of the MT is preferable here.
2 tn Heb “but I am discipline to all of them”; ASV “but I am a rebuker of them all.”
3 tn These words do not appear in the Hebrew, but are supplied to make sense of the line. The introductory causal preposition מִן (min) (“because”) indicates that this phrase – or something like it – is implied through elision.
4 tn There is no main verb in the verse; it is an extended prepositional phrase. One must either assume a verbal idea such as “But it happened due to…” or connect it to the following verses, which themselves are quite difficult. The former option was employed in the present translation.
5 sn Spelling of this name (Βαραχίου, Baraciou) varies among the English versions: “Barachiah” (RSV, NRSV); “Berechiah” (NASB); “Berachiah” (NIV).
6 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
7 sn Which…persecute. The rhetorical question suggests they persecuted them all.
8 tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
9 sn The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ.
10 sn Whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. The harsh critique has OT precedent (1 Kgs 19:10-14; Neh 9:26; 2 Chr 36:16).
11 tn Grk “If it is so concerning these things” (see BDAG 422 s.v. ἔχω 10.a for this use).
12 tn Grk “These men are not drunk, as you suppose.”
13 tn Grk “only the third hour.”
14 tn Or “of the witnesses to Jesus.” Here the genitive ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou) is taken as an objective genitive; Jesus is the object of their testimony.
15 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
16 tn Grk “I marveled a great marvel” (an idiom for great astonishment).