[1:22] 1 tn The pronoun is feminine singular; personified Jerusalem (see v. 21) is addressed.
[1:22] 2 tn Or “dross.” The word refers to the scum or impurites floating on the top of melted metal.
[1:22] 3 sn The metaphors of silver becoming impure and beer being watered down picture the moral and ethical degeneration that had occurred in Jerusalem.
[1:25] 4 tn Heb “turn my hand against you.” The second person pronouns in vv. 25-26 are feminine singular. Personified Jerusalem is addressed. The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack,” in Ps 81:15 HT (81:14 ET); Ezek 38:12; Am 1:8; Zech 13:7. In Jer 6:9 it is used of gleaning grapes.
[1:25] 5 tn Heb “I will purify your dross as [with] flux.” “Flux” refers here to minerals added to the metals in a furnace to prevent oxides from forming. For this interpretation of II בֹּר (bor), see HALOT 153 s.v. II בֹּר and 750 s.v. סִיג.
[1:25] 6 sn The metaphor comes from metallurgy; slag is the substance left over after the metallic ore has been refined.
