3:24 A putrid stench will replace the smell of spices, 3
a rope will replace a belt,
baldness will replace braided locks of hair,
a sackcloth garment will replace a fine robe,
and a prisoner’s brand will replace beauty.
3:25 Your 4 men will fall by the sword,
your strong men will die in battle. 5
3:26 Her gates will mourn and lament;
deprived of her people, she will sit on the ground. 6
1 tn Heb “houses of breath.” HALOT 124 s.v. בַּיִת defines them as “scent-bottles”; cf. NAB, NRSV “perfume boxes.”
2 tn The precise meaning of many of the words in this list is uncertain.
3 tn Heb “and it will be in place of spices there will be a stench.” The nouns for “spices” and “stench” are right next to each other in the MT for emphatic contrast. The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
4 tn The pronoun is feminine singular, suggesting personified Zion, as representative of its women, is the addressee. The reference to “her gates’ in v. 26 makes this identification almost certain.
5 tn Heb “your strength in battle.” The verb in the first clause provides the verbal idea for the second clause.
6 tn Heb “she will be empty, on the ground she will sit.” Jerusalem is personified as a destitute woman who sits mourning the empty city.