10:8 He waits in ambush near the villages; 1
in hidden places he kills the innocent.
His eyes look for some unfortunate victim. 2
10:9 He lies in ambush in a hidden place, like a lion in a thicket; 3
he lies in ambush, waiting to catch 4 the oppressed;
he catches the oppressed 5 by pulling in his net. 6
4:11 Our adversaries also boasted, 7 “Before they are aware or anticipate 8 anything, we will come in among them and kill them, and we will bring this work to a halt!”
3:14 You pierce the heads of his warriors 9 with a spear. 10
They storm forward to scatter us; 11
they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition. 12
1 tn Heb “he sits in the ambush of the villages.”
2 tn Heb “his eyes for an unfortunate person lie hidden.” The language may picture a lion (see v. 9) peering out from its hiding place in anticipation that an unsuspecting victim will soon come strolling along.
3 tn Or “in its den.”
4 tn The verb, which also appears in the next line, occurs only here and in Judg 21:21.
5 tn The singular form is collective (see v. 10) or refers to the typical or representative oppressed individual.
6 tn Or “when he [i.e., the wicked man] pulls in his net.”
7 tn Heb “said.”
8 tn Heb “see.”
9 tn Some take “warriors” with the following line, in which case one should translate, “you pierce [his] head with a spear; his warriors storm forward to scatter us” (cf. NIV). The meaning of the Hebrew term פְּרָזוֹ (pÿrazo), translated here “his warriors,” is uncertain.
10 tc Heb “his shafts.” Some emend to “your shafts.” The translation above assumes an emendation to מַטֶּה (matteh, “shaft, spear”), the vav-yod (ו-י) sequence being a corruption of an original he (ה).
11 tn Heb “me,” but the author speaks as a representative of God’s people.
12 tn Heb “their rejoicing is like devouring the poor in secret.”