1:8 For this reason I 1 will mourn and wail;
I will walk around barefoot 2 and without my outer garments. 3
I will howl 4 like a wild dog, 5
and screech 6 like an owl. 7
4:6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame,
and assemble the outcasts whom I injured. 8
4:8 As for you, watchtower for the flock, 9
fortress of Daughter Zion 10 –
your former dominion will be restored, 11
the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.
6:10 “I will not overlook, 12 O sinful house, the dishonest gain you have hoarded away, 13
or the smaller-than-standard measure I hate so much. 14
1 tn The prophet is probably the speaker here.
2 tn Or “stripped.” The precise meaning of this Hebrew word is unclear. It may refer to walking barefoot (see 2 Sam 15:30) or to partially stripping oneself (see Job 12:17-19).
3 tn Heb “naked.” This probably does not refer to complete nudity, but to stripping off one’s outer garments as an outward sign of the destitution felt by the mourner.
4 tn Heb “I will make lamentation.”
5 tn Or “a jackal”; CEV “howling wolves.”
6 tn Heb “[make] a mourning.”
7 tn Or perhaps “ostrich” (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
8 sn The exiles of the nation are compared to lame and injured sheep.
15 tn Heb “Migdal-eder.” Some English versions transliterate this phrase, apparently because they view it as a place name (cf. NAB).
16 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.
17 tn Heb “to you it will come, the former dominion will arrive.”
22 tn The meaning of the first Hebrew word in the line is unclear. Possibly it is a combination of the interrogative particle and אִשׁ (’ish), an alternate form of יֵשׁ (yesh, “there is/are”). One could then translate literally, “Are there treasures of sin [in] the house of the sinful?” The translation assumes an emendation to הַאֶשֶּׁה (ha’esheh, from נָשָׁא, nasha’, “to forget”), “Will I forget?” The rhetorical question expects an answer, “No, I will not forget.”
23 tn Heb “the treasures of sin”; NASB “treasures of wickedness”; NIV “ill-gotten treasures.”
24 tn Heb “the accursed scant measure.”