3:9 The look on their faces 1 testifies to their guilt; 2
like the people of Sodom they openly boast of their sin. 3
Too bad for them! 4
For they bring disaster on themselves.
18:5 For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted,
and the ripening fruit appears, 5
he will cut off the unproductive shoots 6 with pruning knives;
he will prune the tendrils. 7
1 sn This refers to their proud, arrogant demeanor.
2 tn Heb “answers against them”; NRSV “bears witness against them.”
3 tn Heb “their sin, like Sodom, they declare, they do not conceal [it].”
4 tn Heb “woe to their soul.”
5 tn Heb “and the unripe, ripening fruit is maturing.”
6 tn On the meaning of זַלְזַל (zalzal, “shoot [of the vine] without fruit buds”) see HALOT 272 s.v. *זַלְזַל.
7 tn Heb “the tendrils he will remove, he will cut off.”