1:16 Shave your heads bald as you mourn for the children you love; 1
shave your foreheads as bald 2 as an eagle, 3
for they are taken from you into exile.
4:7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation, 4
and those far off 5 into a mighty nation.
The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion,
from that day forward and forevermore.” 6
4:8 As for you, watchtower for the flock, 7
fortress of Daughter Zion 8 –
your former dominion will be restored, 9
the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.
5:13 I will remove your idols and sacred pillars from your midst;
you will no longer worship what your own hands made.
7:8 My enemies, 10 do not gloat 11 over me!
Though I have fallen, I will get up.
Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. 12
1 tn Heb “over the sons of your delight.”
2 tn Heb “make wide your baldness.”
3 tn Or “a vulture” (cf. NIV, TEV); CEV “a buzzard.” The Hebrew term נֶשֶׁר (nesher) refers to the griffon vulture or eagle.
4 tn Heb “make the lame into a remnant.”
5 tn The precise meaning of this difficult form is uncertain. The present translation assumes the form is a Niphal participle of an otherwise unattested denominative verb הָלָא (hala’, “to be far off”; see BDB 229 s.v.), but attractive emendations include הַנַּחֲלָה (hannakhalah, “the sick one[s]”) from חָלָה (khalah) and הַנִּלְאָה (hannil’ah, “the weary one[s]”) from לָאָה (la’ah).
6 tn Heb “from now until forever.”
7 tn Heb “Migdal-eder.” Some English versions transliterate this phrase, apparently because they view it as a place name (cf. NAB).
8 sn The city of David, located within Jerusalem, is addressed as Daughter Zion. As the home of the Davidic king, who was Israel’s shepherd (Ps 78:70-72), the royal citadel could be viewed metaphorically as the watchtower of the flock.
9 tn Heb “to you it will come, the former dominion will arrive.”
10 tn The singular form is understood as collective.
11 tn Or “rejoice” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NCV “don’t laugh at me.”
12 sn Darkness represents judgment; light (also in v. 9) symbolizes deliverance. The