1:14 You should not have stood at the fork in the road 1 to slaughter 2 those trying to escape. 3
You should not have captured their refugees when they suffered adversity. 4
1:17 But on Mount Zion there will be a remnant of those who escape, 5
and it will be a holy place once again.
The descendants 6 of Jacob will conquer 7
those who had conquered them. 8
1:21 Those who have been delivered 9 will go up on Mount Zion
in order to rule over 10 Esau’s mountain.
Then the Lord will reign as King! 11
1 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word פֶּרֶק (pereq; here translated “fork in the road”) is uncertain. The word is found in the Hebrew Bible only here and in Nah 3:1, where it means “plunder.” In the present context it seems to refer to a strategic intersection or fork in a road where bands of Edomites apprehended Israelites who were fleeing from the attack on Jerusalem. Cf. NAB, NIV, NLT “crossroads”; NRSV “crossings.”
2 tn Heb “to cut off” (so KJV, NRSV); NASB, NIV “to cut down.”
3 tn Heb “his fugitives”; NAB, CEV “refugees.”
4 tn Heb “in the day of distress” (so KJV, ASV).
5 tn Heb “will be a fugitive.” This is a collective singular. Cf. NCV “some will escape the judgment.”
6 tn Heb “house” (so most English versions); NCV, TEV “the people of Jacob.” The word “house” also occurs four times in v. 18.
7 tn Heb “dispossess.” This root is repeated in the following line to emphasize poetic justice: The punishment will fit the crime.
8 tc The present translation follows the reading מוֹרִשֵׁיהֶם (morishehem; literally, “those dispossessing them”; cf. NAB, NRSV, CEV) rather than מוֹרָשֵׁיהֶם (morashehem, “their possessions”) of the MT (cf. LXX, Syriac, and Vg, followed by KJV, ASV, NASB).
9 tc The present translation follows the reading מוּשָׁעִים (musha’im, “those who have been delivered”; cf. NRSV, CEV) rather than מוֹשִׁעִים (moshi’im,“deliverers”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT) of the MT (cf. LXX, Aquila, Theodotion, and Syriac).
10 tn Heb “to judge.” In this context the term does not mean “to render judgment on,” but “to rule over” (cf. NAB “to rule”; NIV “to govern”).
11 tn Heb “then the kingdom will belong to the