6:1 “Run for safety, people of Benjamin!
Get out of Jerusalem! 1
Sound the trumpet 2 in Tekoa!
Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!
For disaster lurks 3 out of the north;
it will bring great destruction. 4
9:3 The Lord says, 5
“These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows.
Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. 6
They have become powerful in the land,
but they have not done so by honest means. 7
Indeed, they do one evil thing after another 8
and do not pay attention to me. 9
1 tn Heb “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem.”
2 tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.
3 tn Heb “leans down” or “looks down.” This verb personifies destruction leaning/looking down from its window in the sky, ready to attack.
4 tn Heb “[It will be] a severe fracture.” The nation is pictured as a limb being fractured.
5 tn The words “The
6 tn Heb “They have readied [or strung] their tongue as their bow for lies.”
7 tn Heb “but not through honesty.”
8 tn Heb “they go from evil to evil.”
9 tn Or “do not acknowledge me”; Heb “do not know me.” But “knowing” in Hebrew thought often involves more than intellectual knowledge; it involves emotional and volitional commitment as well. For יָדַע meaning “acknowledge” see 1 Chr 28:9; Isa 29:21; Hos 2:20; Prov 3:6. This word is also found in ancient Near Eastern treaty contexts where it has the idea of a vassal king acknowledging the sovereignty of a greater king (cf. H. Huffmon, “The Treaty Background of Hebrew yada,” BASOR 181 [1966]: 31-37).
9 sn See Jer 41:18 for their reason for fear.
10 tn Heb “oracle of the