ד (Dalet)
2:4 He prepared his bow 1 like an enemy;
his right hand was ready to shoot. 2
Like a foe he killed everyone,
even our strong young men; 3
he has poured out his anger like fire
on the tent 4 of Daughter Zion.
ה (He)
2:5 The Lord, 5 like an enemy,
destroyed 6 Israel.
He destroyed 7 all her palaces;
he ruined her 8 fortified cities.
He made everyone in Daughter Judah
mourn and lament. 9
1 tn Heb “bent His bow.” When the verb דָּרַךְ (darakh) is used with the noun קֶשֶׁת (qeshet, “archer-bow”), it means “to bend [a bow]” to string it in preparation for shooting arrows (1 Chr 5:18; 8:40; 2 Chr 14:7; Jer 50:14, 29; 51:3). This idiom is used figuratively to describe the assaults of the wicked (Pss 11:2; 37:14) and the judgments of the
2 tn Heb “His right hand is stationed.”
3 tn Heb “the ones who were pleasing to the eye.”
4 tn The singular noun אֹהֶל (’ohel, “tent”) may function as a collective, referring to all tents in Judah. A parallel expression occurs in verse 2 using the plural: “all the dwellings of Jacob” (כָּל־נְאוֹת יַעֲקֹב, kol-nÿ’ot ya’aqov). The singular “tent” matches the image of “Daughter Zion.” On the other hand, the singular “the tent of Daughter Zion” might be a hyperbolic synecdoche of container (= tent) for contents (= inhabitants of Zion).
5 tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the
6 tn Heb “swallowed up.”
7 tn Heb “swallowed up.”
8 tn Heb “his.” For consistency this has been translated as “her.”
9 tn Heb “He increased in Daughter Judah mourning and lamentation.”