14:19 Then I said,
“Lord, 1 have you completely rejected the nation of Judah?
Do you despise 2 the city of Zion?
Why have you struck us with such force
that we are beyond recovery? 3
We hope for peace, but nothing good has come of it.
We hope for a time of relief from our troubles, but experience terror. 4
31:6 Yes, a time is coming
when watchmen 5 will call out on the mountains of Ephraim,
“Come! Let us go to Zion
to worship the Lord our God!”’” 6
135:21 The Lord deserves praise in Zion 7 –
he who dwells in Jerusalem. 8
Praise the Lord!
12:6 Cry out and shout for joy, O citizens of Zion,
for the Holy One of Israel 9 acts mightily 10 among you!”
52:1 Wake up! Wake up!
Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion!
Put on your beautiful clothes,
O Jerusalem, 11 holy city!
For uncircumcised and unclean pagans
will no longer invade you.
2:32 It will so happen that
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. 12
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem 13 there will be those who survive, 14
just as the Lord has promised;
the remnant 15 will be those whom the Lord will call. 16
3:21 I will avenge 17 their blood which I had not previously acquitted.
It is the Lord who dwells in Zion!
1:17 But on Mount Zion there will be a remnant of those who escape, 18
and it will be a holy place once again.
The descendants 19 of Jacob will conquer 20
those who had conquered them. 21
2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus, 22 write the following: 23
“This is the solemn pronouncement of 24 the one who has a firm grasp on 25 the seven stars in his right hand 26 – the one who walks among the seven golden 27 lampstands:
1 tn The words, “Then I said, ‘
2 tn Heb “does your soul despise.” Here as in many places the word “soul” stands as part for whole for the person himself emphasizing emotional and volitional aspects of the person. However, in contemporary English one does not regularly speak of the “soul” in contexts such as this but of the person.
3 tn Heb “Why have you struck us and there is no healing for us.” The statement involves poetic exaggeration (hyperbole) for rhetorical effect.
4 tn Heb “[We hope] for a time of healing but behold terror.”
5 sn Watchmen were stationed at vantage points to pass on warning of coming attack (Jer 6:17; Ezek 33:2, 6) or to spread the news of victory (Isa 52:8). Here reference is made to the watchmen who signaled the special times of the year such as the new moon and festival times when Israel was to go to Jerusalem to worship. Reference is not made to these in the Hebrew Bible but there is a good deal of instruction regarding them in the later Babylonian Talmud.
6 sn Not only will Israel and Judah be reunited under one ruler (cf. 23:5-6), but they will share a unified place and practice of worship once again in contrast to Israel using the illicit places of worship, illicit priesthood, and illicit feasts instituted by Jeroboam (1 Kgs 12:26-31) and continued until the downfall of Samaria in 722
7 tn Heb “praised be the
8 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
9 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
10 tn Or “is great” (TEV). However, the context emphasizes his mighty acts of deliverance (cf. NCV), not some general or vague character quality.
11 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
12 tn While a number of English versions render this as “saved” (e.g., NIV, NRSV, NLT), this can suggest a “spiritual” or “theological” salvation rather than the physical deliverance from the cataclysmic events of the day of the Lord described in the context.
13 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
14 tn Heb “deliverance”; or “escape.” The abstract noun “deliverance” or “escape” probably functions here as an example of antimeria, referring to those who experience deliverance or escape with their lives: “escaped remnant” or “surviving remnant” (Gen 32:8; 45:7; Judg 21:17; 2 Kgs 19:30, 31; Isa 4:2; 10:20; 15:9; 37:31, 32; Ezek 14:22; Obad 1:17; Ezra 9:8, 13-15; Neh 1:2; 1 Chr 4:43; 2 Chr 30:6).
15 tn Heb “and among the remnant.”
16 tn The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to indicate action in the imminent future.
17 tc The present translation follows the reading וְנִקַּמְתִּי (vÿniqqamti, “I will avenge”) rather than וְנִקֵּתִי (vÿniqqeti, “I will acquit”) of the MT.
18 tn Heb “will be a fugitive.” This is a collective singular. Cf. NCV “some will escape the judgment.”
19 tn Heb “house” (so most English versions); NCV, TEV “the people of Jacob.” The word “house” also occurs four times in v. 18.
20 tn Heb “dispossess.” This root is repeated in the following line to emphasize poetic justice: The punishment will fit the crime.
21 tc The present translation follows the reading מוֹרִשֵׁיהֶם (morishehem; literally, “those dispossessing them”; cf. NAB, NRSV, CEV) rather than מוֹרָשֵׁיהֶם (morashehem, “their possessions”) of the MT (cf. LXX, Syriac, and Vg, followed by KJV, ASV, NASB).
22 map For location see JP1-D2; JP2-D2; JP3-D2; JP4-D2.
23 tn The phrase “the following” after “write” is supplied to clarify that what follows is the content of what is to be written.
24 tn Grk “These things says [the One]…” The expression τάδε λέγει (tade legei) occurs eight times in the NT, seven of which are in Rev 2-3. “The pronoun is used to add solemnity to the prophetic utterance that follows. …In classical drama, it was used to introduce a new actor to the scene (Smyth, Greek Grammar, 307 [§1241]). But the τάδε λέγει formula in the NT derives from the OT, where it was used to introduce a prophetic utterance (BAGD, s.v. ὅδε, 1)” (ExSyn 328). Thus, the translation “this is the solemn pronouncement of” for τάδε λέγει is very much in keeping with the OT connotations of this expression.
25 tn Grk “holds,” but the term (i.e., κρατῶν, kratwn) with an accusative object, along with the context, argues for a sense of firmness. (Cf. ExSyn 132.)
26 sn On seven stars in his right hand see 1:16.
27 tn Grk “lampstands of gold” with the genitive τῶν χρυσῶν (twn cruswn) translated as an attributive genitive.