1:11 Residents 1 of Shaphir, 2 pass by in nakedness and humiliation! 3
The residents of Zaanan can’t leave their city. 4
Beth Ezel 5 mourns, 6
“He takes from you what he desires.” 7
3:11 Her 8 leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, 9
her priests proclaim rulings for profit,
and her prophets read omens for pay.
Yet they claim to trust 10 the Lord and say,
“The Lord is among us. 11
Disaster will not overtake 12 us!”
1 tn The Hebrew participial form, which is feminine singular, is here used in a collective sense for the all the residents of the town. See GKC 394 §122.s.
2 sn The place name Shaphir means “pleasant” in Hebrew.
3 tn The imperatival form is used rhetorically, emphasizing that the inhabitants of Shaphir will pass by into exile.
4 tn Heb “have not come out”; NIV “will not come out”; NLT “dare not come outside.”
5 sn The place name Beth Ezel means “house of nearness” or “house of proximity” in Hebrew.
6 tn Heb “the lamentation of Beth Ezel.” The following words could be the lamentation offered up by Beth Ezel (subjective genitive) or the mourning song sung over it (objective genitive).
7 tc The form עֶמְדָּתוֹ (’emdato) should be emended to חֲמַדְּתוֹ (khamadto, “his (the conqueror’s) desire”).
8 sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).
9 tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”
10 tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”
11 tn Heb “Is not the
12 tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”