1:12 At that time I will search through Jerusalem with lamps.
I will punish the people who are entrenched in their sin, 1
those who think to themselves, 2
‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ 3
2:15 This is how the once-proud city will end up 4 –
the city that was so secure. 5
She thought to herself, 6 “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” 7
What a heap of ruins she has become, a place where wild animals live!
Everyone who passes by her taunts her 8 and shakes his fist. 9
1 tn Heb “who thicken on their sediment.” The imagery comes from wine making, where the wine, if allowed to remain on the sediment too long, will thicken into syrup. The image suggests that the people described here were complacent in their sinful behavior and interpreted the delay in judgment as divine apathy.
2 tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”
3 tn Heb “The
4 tn Heb “this is the proud city.”
5 tn Heb “the one that lived securely.”
6 tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”
7 tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.”
8 tn Heb “hisses”; or “whistles.”
9 sn Hissing (or whistling) and shaking the fist were apparently ways of taunting a defeated foe or an object of derision in the culture of the time.