3:19 Look, at that time I will deal with those who mistreated you.
I will rescue the lame sheep 1
and gather together the scattered sheep.
I will take away their humiliation
and make the whole earth admire and respect them. 2
1:17 I will bring distress on the people 3
and they will stumble 4 like blind men,
for they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dirt;
their flesh 5 will be scattered 6 like manure.
3:6 “I destroyed 7 nations;
their walled cities 8 are in ruins.
I turned their streets into ruins;
no one passes through them.
Their cities are desolate; 9
no one lives there. 10
1 tn The word “sheep” is supplied for clarification. As in Mic 4:6-7, the exiles are here pictured as injured and scattered sheep whom the divine shepherd rescues from danger.
2 tn Heb “I will make them into praise and a name, in all the earth, their shame.” The present translation assumes that “their shame” specifies “them” and that “name” stands here for a good reputation.
3 tn “The people” refers to mankind in general (see vv. 2-3) or more specifically to the residents of Judah (see vv. 4-13).
4 tn Heb “walk.”
5 tn Some take the referent of “flesh” to be more specific here; cf. NEB (“bowels”), NAB (“brains”), NIV (“entrails”).
6 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.”