6:1 Now these are the commandments, 11 statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed 12
9:20 They devoured 13 on the right, but were still hungry,
they ate on the left, but were not satisfied.
People even ate 14 the flesh of their own arm! 15
ר (Resh)
2:20 Look, O Lord! Consider! 16
Whom have you ever afflicted 17 like this?
Should women eat their offspring, 18
their healthy infants? 19
Should priest and prophet
be killed in the Lord’s 20 sanctuary?
י (Yod)
4:10 The hands of tenderhearted women 21
cooked their own children,
who became their food, 22
when my people 23 were destroyed. 24
1 tn Heb “and the flesh of your daughters you will eat.” The phrase “you will eat” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NRSV); NASB “the offspring of your own body.”
3 tn Heb “siege and stress.”
4 tn Heb “besiege,” redundant with the noun “siege.”
5 tc The LXX adds σφόδρα (sfodra, “very”) to bring the description into line with v. 54.
6 tn Heb “delicateness and tenderness.”
7 tn Heb includes “that which comes out from between her feet.”
8 tn Heb “her sons that she will bear.”
9 tn Heb includes “in her need for everything.”
10 tn Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.”
11 tn Heb “commandment.” The word מִצְוָה (mitsvah) again is in the singular, serving as a comprehensive term for the whole stipulation section of the book. See note on the word “commandments” in 5:31.
12 tn Heb “where you are going over to possess it” (so NASB); NRSV “that you are about to cross into and occupy.”
13 tn Or “cut.” The verb גָּזַר (gazar) means “to cut.” If it is understood here, then one might paraphrase, “They slice off meat on the right.” However, HALOT 187 s.v. I גזר, proposes here a rare homonym meaning “to devour.”
14 tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite without vav consecutive or an imperfect used in a customary sense, describing continual or repeated behavior in past time.
15 tn Some suggest that זְרֹעוֹ (zÿro’o, “his arm”) be repointed זַרְעוֹ (zar’o, “his offspring”). In either case, the metaphor is that of a desperately hungry man who resorts to an almost unthinkable act to satisfy his appetite. He eats everything he can find to his right, but still being unsatisfied, then turns to his left and eats everything he can find there. Still being desperate for food, he then resorts to eating his own flesh (or offspring, as this phrase is metaphorically understood by some English versions, e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT). The reality behind the metaphor is the political turmoil of the period, as the next verse explains. There was civil strife within the northern kingdom; even the descendants of Joseph were at each other’s throats. Then the northern kingdom turned on their southern brother, Judah.
16 tn Heb “Look, O
17 tn For the nuance “afflict” see the note at 1:12.
18 tn Heb “their fruit.” The term פְּרִי (pÿri, “fruit”) is used figuratively to refer to children as the fruit of a mother’s womb (e.g., Gen 30:2; Deut 7:13; 28:4, 11, 18, 53; 30:9; Pss 21:11; 127:3; 132:11; Isa 13:18; Mic 6:7).
19 tn Heb “infants of healthy childbirth.” The genitive-construct phrase עֹלֲלֵי טִפֻּחִים (’olale tippukhim) functions as an attributive genitive construction: “healthy newborn infants.” The noun טִפֻּחִים (tippukhim) appears only here. It is related to the verb טָפַח (tafakh), meaning “to give birth to a healthy child” or “to raise children” depending on whether the Arabic or Akkadian cognate is emphasized. For the related verb, see below at 2:22.
20 tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the
21 tn Heb “the hands of compassionate women.”
22 tn Heb “eating.” The infinitive construct (from I בָּרָה, barah) is translated as a noun. Three passages employ the verb (2 Sam 3:35; 12:17; 13:5,6,10) for eating when ill or in mourning.
23 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”
24 tn Heb “in the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
25 tn In context “you” refers to the city of Jerusalem. To make this clear for the modern reader, “Jerusalem” has been supplied in the translation in apposition to “you.”
26 tn Heb “all of your survivors.”
27 tn Heb “to every wind.”