3:11 Too bad for the wicked sinners!
For they will get exactly what they deserve. 1
48:22 There will be no prosperity for the wicked,” says the Lord.
48:2 Indeed, they live in the holy city; 2
they trust in 3 the God of Israel,
whose name is the Lord who commands armies.
In earlier times he 6 humiliated
the land of Zebulun,
and the land of Naphtali; 7
but now he brings honor 8
to the way of the sea,
the region beyond the Jordan,
and Galilee of the nations. 9
3:16 ruin and misery are in their paths,
3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 10
1 tn Heb “for the work of his hands will be done to him.”
2 tn Heb “they call themselves [or “are called”] from the holy city.” The precise meaning of the statement is uncertain. The Niphal of קָרָא (qara’) is combined with the preposition מִן (min) only here. When the Qal of קָרָא is used with מִן, the preposition often indicates the place from which one is summoned (see 46:11). So one could translate, “from the holy city they are summoned,” meaning that they reside there.
3 tn Heb “lean on” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB, NIV “rely on.”
4 sn In the Hebrew text (BHS) the chapter division comes one verse later than in the English Bible; 9:1 (8:23 HT). Thus 9:2-21 in the English Bible = 9:1-20 in the Hebrew text. Beginning with 10:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.
5 tn The Hebrew text reads, “Indeed there is no gloom for the one to whom there was anxiety for her.” The feminine singular pronominal suffix “her” must refer to the land (cf. vv. 22a, 23b). So one could translate, “Indeed there will be no gloom for the land which was anxious.” In this case the statement introduces the positive message to follow. Some assume an emendation of לֹא (lo’, “no”) to לוֹ (lo, “to him”) and of לָהּ (lah, “to her”) to לוֹ (lo, “to him”), yielding this literal reading: “indeed there is gloom for him, for the one to whom there was anxiety for him.” In this case the statement concludes the preceding description of judgment.
6 tn The Lord must be understood as the subject of the two verbs in this verse.
7 sn The statement probably alludes to the Assyrian conquest of Israel in ca. 734-733
8 tn Heb Just as in earlier times he humiliated…, [in] the latter times he has brought honor.” The main verbs in vv. 1b-4 are Hebrew perfects. The prophet takes his rhetorical stance in the future age of restoration and describes future events as if they have already occurred. To capture the dramatic effect of the original text, the translation uses the English present or present perfect.
9 sn These three geographical designations may refer to provinces established by the Assyrians in 734-733
10 sn Rom 3:15-17 is a quotation from Isa 59:7-8.