2:23 “How can you say, ‘I have not made myself unclean.
I have not paid allegiance to 1 the gods called Baal.’
Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! 2
Think about the things you have done there!
You are like a flighty, young female camel
that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path. 3
46:6 But even the swiftest cannot get away.
Even the strongest cannot escape. 4
There in the north by the Euphrates River
they stumble and fall in defeat. 5
1 tn Heb “I have not gone/followed after.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for the meaning and usage of this idiom.
2 tn Heb “Look at your way in the valley.” The valley is an obvious reference to the Valley of Hinnom where Baal and Molech were worshiped and child sacrifice was practiced.
3 sn The metaphor is intended to depict Israel’s lack of clear direction and purpose without the
4 tn The translation assumes that the adjectives with the article are functioning as superlatives in this context (cf. GKC 431 §133.g). It also assumes that אַל (’al) with the jussive is expressing here an emphatic negative rather than a negative wish (cf. GKC 317 §107.p and compare the usage in Ps 50:3).
5 tn Heb “they stumble and fall.” However, the verbs here are used of a fatal fall, of a violent death in battle (see BDB 657 s.v. נָפַל Qal.2.a), and a literal translation might not be understood by some readers.