1 Kings 9:8

9:8 This temple will become a heap of ruins; ¹  everyone who passes by it will be shocked and will hiss out their scorn, ²  saying, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?’

Jeremiah 19:8

19:8 I will make this city an object of horror, a thing to be hissed at. All who pass by it will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn ³  because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ⁴ 

Micah 6:16

6:16 You implement the regulations of Omri,

and all the practices of Ahab’s dynasty; ⁵ 

you follow their policies. ⁶ 

Therefore I will make you an appalling sight, ⁷ 

the city’s ⁸  inhabitants will be taunted derisively, ⁹ 

and nations will mock all of you.” ¹⁰ 

Zephaniah 2:15

2:15 This is how the once-proud city will end up ¹¹  –

the city that was so secure. ¹² 

She thought to herself, ¹³  “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” ¹⁴ 

What a heap of ruins she has become, a place where wild animals live!

Everyone who passes by her taunts her ¹⁵  and shakes his fist. ¹⁶ 

[9:8]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “hiss,” or perhaps “whistle.” This refers to a derisive sound one would make when taunting an object of ridicule.

[19:8]  ³ sn See 18:16 and the study note there.

[19:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “all its smitings.” This word has been used several times for the metaphorical “wounds” that Israel has suffered as a result of the blows from its enemies. See, e.g., 14:17. It is used in the Hebrew Bible of scourging, both literally and metaphorically (cf. Deut 25:3; Isa 10:26), and of slaughter and defeat (1 Sam 4:10; Josh 10:20). Here it refers to the results of the crushing blows at the hands of her enemies which has made her the object of scorn.

[6:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “the edicts of Omri are kept, and all the deeds of the house of Ahab.”

[6:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “and you walk in their plans.”

[6:16]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term שַׁמָּה (shammah) can refer to “destruction; ruin,” or to the reaction it produces in those who witness the destruction.

[6:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “her”; the referent (the city) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “[an object] of hissing,” which was a way of taunting someone.

[6:16]  ¹⁰ tc The translation assumes an emendation of the MT’s עַמִּי (’ammi, “my people”) to עַמִּים (’ammim, “nations”).

[2:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “this is the proud city.”

[2:15]  ¹² tn Heb “the one that lived securely.”

[2:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[2:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.”

[2:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “hisses”; or “whistles.”

[2:15]  ¹⁶ 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.