40:2 “Speak kindly to 5 Jerusalem, 6 and tell her
that her time of warfare is over, 7
that her punishment is completed. 8
For the Lord has made her pay double 9 for all her sins.”
1 tn Heb “walked before you.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254.
2 tn Heb “and with a complete heart”; KJV, ASV “with a perfect heart.”
3 tn Heb “and that which is good in your eyes I have done.”
4 tn Heb “wept with great weeping”; NCV “cried loudly”; TEV “began to cry bitterly.”
5 tn Heb “speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is personified as a woman.
6 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
7 tn Heb “that she is filled [with] her warfare.” Some understand צָבָא (tsavah, “warfare”) as meaning “hard service” or “compulsory labor” in this context.
8 tn Heb “that her punishment is accepted [as satisfactory].”
9 tn Heb “for she has received from the hand of the Lord double.” The principle of the double portion in punishment is also seen in Jer 16:18; 17:18 and Rev 18:6. For examples of the double portion in Israelite law, see Exod 22:4, 7, 9 (double restitution by a thief) and Deut 21:17 (double inheritance portion for the firstborn).