17:2 The cities of Aroer are abandoned. 1
They will be used for herds,
which will lie down there in peace. 2
32:14 For the fortress is neglected;
the once-crowded 3 city is abandoned.
Hill 4 and watchtower
are permanently uninhabited. 5
Wild donkeys love to go there,
and flocks graze there. 6
2:14 Flocks and herds 7 will lie down in the middle of it,
as well as every kind of wild animal. 8
Owls 9 will sleep in the tops of its support pillars;
they will hoot through the windows. 10
Rubble will cover the thresholds; 11
even the cedar work 12 will be exposed to the elements. 13
2:15 This is how the once-proud city will end up 14 –
the city that was so secure. 15
She thought to herself, 16 “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” 17
What a heap of ruins she has become, a place where wild animals live!
Everyone who passes by her taunts her 18 and shakes his fist. 19
1 tn Three cities are known by this name in the OT: (1) an Aroer located near the Arnon, (2) an Aroer in Ammon, and (3) an Aroer of Judah. (See BDB 792-93 s.v. עֲרֹעֵר, and HALOT 883 s.v. II עֲרוֹעֵר.) There is no mention of an Aroer in Syrian territory. For this reason some want to emend the text here to עֲזֻבוֹת עָרַיהָ עֲדֵי עַד (’azuvot ’arayha ’adey ’ad, “her cities are permanently abandoned”). However, Aroer near the Arnon was taken by Israel and later conquered by the Syrians. (See Josh 12:2; 13:9, 16; Judg 11:26; 2 Kgs 10:33). This oracle pertains to Israel as well as Syria (note v. 3), so it is possible that this is a reference to Israelite and/or Syrian losses in Transjordan.
2 tn Heb “and they lie down and there is no one scaring [them].”
3 tn Or “noisy” (NAB, NIV, NCV).
4 tn Hebrew עֹפֶל (’ofel), probably refers here to a specific area within the city of Jerusalem. See HALOT 861 s.v. II עֹפֶל.
5 tn The Hebrew text has בְעַד מְעָרוֹת (vÿ’ad mÿ’arot). The force of בְעַד, which usually means “behind, through, round about,” or “for the benefit of,” is uncertain here. HALOT 616 s.v. *מְעָרָה takes מְעָרוֹת (mÿ’arot) as a homonym of “cave” and define it here as “cleared field.” Despite these lexical problems, the general point of the statement seems clear – the city will be uninhabited.
6 tn Heb “the joy of wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks.”
7 tn Heb “flocks.” The Hebrew word can refer to both flocks of sheep and herds of cattle.
8 tn Heb “[and] all the wild animals of a nation.” How גוֹי (goy, “nation”) relates to what precedes is unclear. It may be a corruption of another word. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 193.
9 tn The Hebrew text reads here גַּם־קָאַת גַּם־קִפֹּד (gam-qa’at gam-qippod). The term קָאַת refers to some type of bird (see Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (Isa 34:11); one of the most common translations is “owl” (cf. NEB “horned owl”; NIV, NRSV “desert owl”; contra NASB “pelican”). The term קִפֹּד may also refer to a type of bird (cf. NEB “ruffed bustard”; NIV, NRSV “screech owl”). Some suggest a rodent may be in view (cf. NASB “hedgehog”); this is not unreasonable, for a rodent or some other small animal would be able to sleep in the tops of pillars which would be lying in the ruins of the fallen buildings.
10 tn Heb “a sound will sing in the window.” If some type of owl is in view, “hoot” is a more appropriate translation (cf. NEB, NRSV).
11 tn Heb “rubble [will be] on the threshold.” “Rubble” translates the Hebrew word חֹרֶב (khorev, “desolation”). Some emend to עֹרֵב (’orev, “raven”) following the LXX and Vulgate; Adele Berlin translates, “A voice shall shriek from the window – a raven at the sill” (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 104).
12 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “cedar work” (so NASB, NRSV) is unclear; NIV has “the beams of cedar.”
13 tn Heb “one will expose.” The subject is probably indefinite, though one could translate, “for he [i.e., God] will lay bare.”
14 tn Heb “this is the proud city.”
15 tn Heb “the one that lived securely.”
16 tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”
17 tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.”
18 tn Heb “hisses”; or “whistles.”
19 sn Hissing (or whistling) and shaking the fist were apparently ways of taunting a defeated foe or an object of derision in the culture of the time.