3:3 You 1 devour my people’s flesh,
strip off their skin,
and crush their bones.
You chop them up like flesh in a pot 2 –
like meat in a kettle.
3:9 Listen to this, you leaders of the family 3 of Jacob,
you rulers of the nation 4 of Israel!
You 5 hate justice
and pervert all that is right.
5:6 They will rule 6 the land of Assyria with the sword,
the land of Nimrod 7 with a drawn sword. 8
Our king 9 will rescue us from the Assyrians
should they attempt to invade our land
and try to set foot in our territory.
1 tn Heb “who.”
2 tc The MT reads “and they chop up as in a pot.” The translation assumes an emendation of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher, “as”) to כִּשְׁאֵר (kish’er, “like flesh”).
3 tn Heb “house.”
4 tn Heb “house.”
5 tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons (also at the beginning of v. 10).
5 tn Or perhaps “break”; or “defeat.”
6 sn According to Gen 10:8-12, Nimrod, who was famous as a warrior and hunter, founded Assyria.
7 tc The MT reads “in her gates,” but the text should be emended to בַּפְּתִיחָה (baptikhah, “with a drawn sword”).
8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the coming king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.