1 Kings 9:7-8

9:7 then I will remove Israel from the land ¹  I have given them, I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence, ²  and Israel will be mocked and ridiculed ³  among all the nations. 9:8 This temple will become a heap of ruins; ⁴  everyone who passes by it will be shocked and will hiss out their scorn, ⁵  saying, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?’

Job 27:23

27:23 It claps ⁶  its hands at him in derision

and hisses him away from his place. ⁷ 

Psalms 52:6-7

52:6 When the godly see this, they will be filled with awe,

and will mock the evildoer, saying: ⁸ 

52:7 “Look, here is the man who would not make ⁹  God his protector!

He trusted in his great wealth

and was confident about his plans to destroy others.” ¹⁰ 

Lamentations 2:15

ס (Samek)

2:15 All who passed by on the road

clapped their hands to mock you. ¹¹ 

They sneered and shook their heads

at Daughter Jerusalem.

“Ha! Is this the city they called ¹² 

‘The perfection of beauty, ¹³ 

the source of joy of the whole earth!’?” ¹⁴ 

Ezekiel 27:36

27:36 The traders among the peoples hiss at you;

you have become a horror, and will be no more.’”

Nahum 3:19

3:19 Your destruction is like an incurable wound; ¹⁵ 

your demise is like a fatal injury! ¹⁶ 

All who hear what has happened to you ¹⁷  will clap their hands for joy, ¹⁸ 

for no one ever escaped your endless cruelty! ¹⁹ 

Matthew 27:39

27:39 Those ²⁰  who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads

[9:7]  ¹ tn Heb “I will cut off Israel from upon the surface of the land.”

[9:7]  ² tn Heb “and the temple which I consecrated for my name I will send away from before my face.”

[9:7]  ³ tn Heb “will become a proverb and a taunt,” that is, a proverbial example of destruction and an object of reproach.

[9:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “and this house will be high [or elevated].” The statement makes little sense in this context, which predicts the desolation that judgment will bring. Some treat the clause as concessive, “Even though this temple is lofty [now].” Others, following the lead of several ancient versions, emend the text to, “this temple will become a heap of ruins.”

[9:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “hiss,” or perhaps “whistle.” This refers to a derisive sound one would make when taunting an object of ridicule.

[27:23]  ⁶ tn If the same subject is to be carried through here, it is the wind. That would make this a bold personification, perhaps suggesting the force of the wind. Others argue that it is unlikely that the wind claps its hands. They suggest taking the verb with an indefinite subject: “he claps” means “one claps. The idea is that of people rejoicing when the wicked are gone. But the parallelism is against this unless the second line is changed as well. R. Gordis (Job, 296) has “men will clap their hands…men will whistle upon him.”

[27:23]  ⁷ tn Or “hisses at him from its place” (ESV).

[52:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the godly will see and will fear and at him will laugh.”

[52:7]  ⁹ tn The imperfect verbal form here draws attention to the ongoing nature of the action. The evildoer customarily rejected God and trusted in his own abilities. Another option is to take the imperfect as generalizing, “[here is the man who] does not make.”

[52:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he was strong in his destruction.” “Destruction” must refer back to the destructive plans mentioned in v. 2. The verb (derived from the root עָזַז, ’azaz, “be strong”) as it stands is either an imperfect (if so, probably used in a customary sense) or a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive). However the form should probably be emended to וַיָּעָז (vayya’az), a Qal preterite (with vav [ו] consecutive) from עָזַז. Note the preterite form without vav (ו) consecutive in the preceding line (וַיִּבְטַח, vayyivtakh, “and he trusted”). The prefixed vav (ו) was likely omitted by haplography (note the suffixed vav [ו] on the preceding עָשְׁרוֹ, ’oshro, “his wealth”).

[2:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “clap their hands at you.” Clapping hands at someone was an expression of malicious glee, derision and mockery (Num 24:10; Job 27:23; Lam 2:15).

[2:15]  ¹² tn Heb “of which they said.”

[2:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “perfection of beauty.” The noun יֹפִי (yofi, “beauty”) functions as a genitive of respect in relation to the preceding construct noun: Jerusalem was perfect in respect to its physical beauty.

[2:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the joy of all the earth.” This is similar to statements found in Pss 48:2 and 50:2.

[3:19]  ¹⁵ tc The MT reads the hapax legomenon כֵּהָה (kehah, “relief, alleviation”). On the other hand, the LXX reads ἴασις (iasi", “healing”) which seems to reflect a reading of גֵּהָה (gehah, “cure, healing”). In the light of the LXX, the BHS editors suggest emending the MT to גֵּהָה (gehah) – which occurs only once elsewhere (Prov 17:22) – on the basis of orthographic and phonological confusion between Hebrew כ (kaf) and ג (gimel). This emendation would produce the common ancient Near Eastern treaty-curse: “there is no cure for your wound” (e.g., Hos 5:13); see HALOT 461 s.v. כֵּהָה; K. J. Cathcart, “Treaty-Curses and the Book of Nahum,” CBQ 35 (1973): 186; D. Hillers, Treaty-Curses and the Old Testament Prophets, 64-66.

[3:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “your injury is fatal.”

[3:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the report of you.”

[3:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “will clap their hands over you.”

[3:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “For who ever escaped…?”

[27:39]  ²⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.