Job 27:23

27:23 It claps ¹  its hands at him in derision

and hisses him away from his place. ² 

Job 34:37

34:37 For he adds transgression ³  to his sin;

in our midst he claps his hands, ⁴ 

and multiplies his words against God.”

Jeremiah 48:27

48:27 For did not you people of Moab laugh at the people of Israel?

Did you think that they were nothing but thieves, ⁵ 

that you shook your head in contempt ⁶ 

every time you talked about them? ⁷ 

Lamentations 2:15

ס (Samek)

2:15 All who passed by on the road

clapped their hands to mock you. ⁸ 

They sneered and shook their heads

at Daughter Jerusalem.

“Ha! Is this the city they called ⁹ 

‘The perfection of beauty, ¹⁰ 

the source of joy of the whole earth!’?” ¹¹ 

Nahum 3:19

3:19 Your destruction is like an incurable wound; ¹² 

your demise is like a fatal injury! ¹³ 

All who hear what has happened to you ¹⁴  will clap their hands for joy, ¹⁵ 

for no one ever escaped your endless cruelty! ¹⁶ 

Zephaniah 2:15

2:15 This is how the once-proud city will end up ¹⁷  –

the city that was so secure. ¹⁸ 

She thought to herself, ¹⁹  “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” ²⁰ 

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

Everyone who passes by her taunts her ²¹  and shakes his fist. ²² 

[27:23]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Or “hisses at him from its place” (ESV).

[34:37]  ³ tn Although frequently translated “rebellion,” the basic meaning of this Hebrew term is “transgression.”

[34:37]  ⁴ tc If this reading stands, it would mean that Job shows contempt, meaning that he mocks them and accuses God. It is a bold touch, but workable. Of the many suggested emendations, Dhorme alters some of the vowels and obtains a reading “and casts doubt among us,” and then takes “transgression” from the first colon for the complement. Some commentators simply delete the line.

[48:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “were they caught among thieves?”

[48:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “that you shook yourself.” But see the same verb in 18:16 in the active voice with the object “head” in a very similar context of contempt or derision.

[48:27]  ⁷ tc The reading here presupposes the emendation of דְבָרֶיךָ (dÿvarekha, “your words”) to דַבֶּרְךָ (dabberkha, “your speaking”), suggested by BHS (cf. fn c) on the basis of one of the Greek versions (Symmachus). For the idiom cf. BDB 191 s.v. דַּי 2.c.α.

[2:15]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “of which they said.”

[2:15]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the joy of all the earth.” This is similar to statements found in Pss 48:2 and 50:2.

[3:19]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “your injury is fatal.”

[3:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the report of you.”

[3:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “will clap their hands over you.”

[3:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “For who ever escaped…?”

[2:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “this is the proud city.”

[2:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the one that lived securely.”

[2:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the one who says in her heart.”

[2:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I [am], and besides me there is no other.”

[2:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “hisses”; or “whistles.”

[2:15]  ²² 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.