1:6 “I will turn Samaria 1 into a heap of ruins in an open field –
vineyards will be planted there! 2
I will tumble 3 the rubble of her stone walls 4 down into the valley,
and tear down her fortifications to their foundations. 5
2:2 They confiscate the fields they desire,
and seize the houses they want. 6
They defraud people of their homes, 7
and deprive people of the land they have inherited. 8
3:12 Therefore, because of you, 9 Zion will be plowed up like 10 a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
and the Temple Mount 11 will become a hill overgrown with brush! 12
1 map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.
2 tn Heb “into a planting place for vineyards.”
3 tn Heb “pour” (so NASB, NIV); KJV, NRSV “pour down”; NAB “throw down”; NLT “roll.”
4 tn Heb “her stones.” The term stones is a metonymy for the city walls whose foundations were constructed of stone masonry.
5 tn Heb “I will uncover her foundations.” The term “foundations” refers to the lower courses of the stones of the city’s outer fortification walls.
6 tn Heb “they desire fields and rob [them], and houses and take [them] away.”
7 tn Heb “and they oppress a man and his home.”
8 tn Heb “and a man and his inheritance.” The verb עָשַׁק (’ashaq, “to oppress”; “to wrong”) does double duty in the parallel structure and is understood by ellipsis in the second line.
11 tn The plural pronoun refers to the leaders, priests, and prophets mentioned in the preceding verse.
12 tn Or “into” (an adverbial accusative of result).
13 tn Heb “the mountain of the house” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).
14 tn Heb “a high place of overgrowth.”