1:17 I will bring distress on the people 1
and they will stumble 2 like blind men,
for they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dirt;
their flesh 3 will be scattered 4 like manure.
3:6 “I destroyed 5 nations;
their walled cities 6 are in ruins.
I turned their streets into ruins;
no one passes through them.
Their cities are desolate; 7
no one lives there. 8
1 tn “The people” refers to mankind in general (see vv. 2-3) or more specifically to the residents of Judah (see vv. 4-13).
2 tn Heb “walk.”
3 tn Some take the referent of “flesh” to be more specific here; cf. NEB (“bowels”), NAB (“brains”), NIV (“entrails”).
4 tn The words “will be scattered” are supplied in the translation for clarity based on the parallelism with “will be poured out” in the previous line.
5 tn Heb “cut off.”
6 tn Heb “corner towers”; NEB, NRSV “battlements.”
7 tn This Hebrew verb (צָדָה, tsadah) occurs only here in the OT, but its meaning is established from the context and from an Aramaic cognate.
8 tn Heb “so that there is no man, without inhabitant.”