ס (Samek)
2:15 All who passed by on the road
clapped their hands to mock you. 1
They sneered and shook their heads
at Daughter Jerusalem.
“Ha! Is this the city they called 2
‘The perfection of beauty, 3
the source of joy of the whole earth!’?” 4
1 tn Heb “clap their hands at you.” Clapping hands at someone was an expression of malicious glee, derision and mockery (Num 24:10; Job 27:23; Lam 2:15).
2 tn Heb “of which they said.”
3 tn Heb “perfection of beauty.” The noun יֹפִי (yofi, “beauty”) functions as a genitive of respect in relation to the preceding construct noun: Jerusalem was perfect in respect to its physical beauty.
4 tn Heb “the joy of all the earth.” This is similar to statements found in Pss 48:2 and 50:2.