Lamentations 1:19

ק (Qof)

1:19 I called for my lovers, ¹ 

but they had deceived me.

My priests and my elders

perished in the city.

Truly they had ²  searched for food

to ³  keep themselves ⁴  alive. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 4:30

4:30 And you, Zion, city doomed to destruction, ⁶ 

you accomplish nothing ⁷  by wearing a beautiful dress, ⁸ 

decking yourself out in jewels of gold,

and putting on eye shadow! ⁹ 

You are making yourself beautiful for nothing.

Your lovers spurn you.

They want to kill you. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 22:20-22

Warning to Jerusalem

22:20 People of Jerusalem, ¹¹  go up to Lebanon and cry out in mourning.

Go to the land of Bashan and cry out loudly.

Cry out in mourning from the mountains of Moab. ¹² 

For your allies ¹³  have all been defeated.

22:21 While you were feeling secure I gave you warning. ¹⁴ 

But you said, “I refuse to listen to you.”

That is the way you have acted from your earliest history onward. ¹⁵ 

Indeed, you have never paid attention to me.

22:22 My judgment will carry off all your leaders like a storm wind! ¹⁶ 

Your allies will go into captivity.

Then you will certainly ¹⁷  be disgraced and put to shame

because of all the wickedness you have done.

Jeremiah 30:14

30:14 All your allies have abandoned you. ¹⁸ 

They no longer have any concern for you.

For I have attacked you like an enemy would.

I have chastened you cruelly.

For your wickedness is so great

and your sin is so much. ¹⁹ 

Ezekiel 16:37

16:37 therefore, take note: I am about to gather all your lovers whom you enjoyed, both all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around, and I will expose your nakedness to them, and they will see all your nakedness. ²⁰ 

Ezekiel 23:22-25

23:22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, ²¹  I am about to stir up against you the lovers with whom you were disgusted; I will bring them against you from every side: 23:23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, ²²  Shoa, ²³  and Koa, ²⁴  and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, all of them governors and officials, officers and nobles, all of them riding on horses. 23:24 They will attack ²⁵  you with weapons, ²⁶  chariots, wagons, and with a huge army; ²⁷  they will array themselves against you on every side with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I will assign them the task of judgment; ²⁸  they will punish you according to their laws. 23:25 I will direct ²⁹  my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in rage. They will cut off your nose and your ears, ³⁰  and your survivors will die ³¹  by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your survivors will be consumed by fire.

Hosea 2:7

2:7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch ³²  them;

she will seek them, but she will not find them. ³³ 

Then she will say,

“I will go back ³⁴  to my husband, ³⁵ 

because I was better off then than I am now.” ³⁶ 

Revelation 17:13

17:13 These kings ³⁷  have a single intent, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.

Revelation 17:16

17:16 The ³⁸  ten horns that you saw, and the beast – these will hate the prostitute and make her desolate and naked. They ³⁹  will consume her flesh and burn her up with fire. ⁴⁰ 

[1:19]  ¹ sn The term “lovers” is a figurative expression (hypocatastasis), comparing Jerusalem’s false gods and political alliance with Assyria to a woman’s immoral lovers. The prophet Hosea uses similar imagery (Hos 2:5, 7, 10, 13).

[1:19]  ² tn Here the conjunction כּי (ki) functions in (1) a temporal sense in reference to a past event, following a perfect: “when” (BDB 473 s.v. 2.a; cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or (2) a concessive sense, following a perfect: “although” (Pss 21:12; 119:83; Mic 7:8; Nah 1:10; cf. BDB 473 s.v. 2.c.β) or (3) with an intensive force, introducing a statement with emphasis: “surely, certainly” (BDB 472 s.v. 1.e). The present translation follows the third option.

[1:19]  ³ tn The vav (ו) prefixed to וַיָשִׁיבוּ (vayashivu) introduces a purpose clause: “they sought food for themselves, in order to keep themselves alive.”

[1:19]  ⁴ tn The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) functions as a metonymy (= soul) of association (= life) (e.g., Gen 44:30; Exod 21:23; 2 Sam 14:7; Jon 1:14). When used with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh), the Hiphil הָשִׁיב (hashiv) of שׁוּב (shuv, “to turn, return”) may mean “to preserve a person’s life,” that is, to keep a person alive (Lam 1:14, 19).

[1:19]  ⁵ tc The LXX adds καὶ οὐχ εὗρον (kai ouc Jeuron, “but they did not find it”). This is probably an explanatory scribal gloss, indicated to explicate what appeared to be ambiguous. The LXX often adds explanatory glosses in many OT books.

[4:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “And you that are doomed to destruction.” The referent is supplied from the following context and the fact that Zion/Jerusalem represents the leadership which was continually making overtures to foreign nations for help.

[4:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “What are you accomplishing…?” The rhetorical question assumes a negative answer, made clear by the translation in the indicative.

[4:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “clothing yourself in scarlet.”

[4:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “enlarging your eyes with antimony.” Antimony was a black powder used by women as eyeliner to make their eyes look larger.

[4:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they seek your life.”

[22:20]  ¹¹ tn The words “people of Jerusalem” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to clarify the referent of the imperative. The imperative is feminine singular and it is generally agreed that personified Zion/Jerusalem is in view. The second feminine singular has commonly been applied to Jerusalem or the people of Judah throughout the book. The reference to allies (v. 20, 22) and to leaders (v. 22) make it very probable that this is the case here too.

[22:20]  ¹² tn Heb “from Abarim.” This was the mountain range in Moab from which Moses viewed the promised land (cf. Deut 32:49).

[22:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “your lovers.” For the usage of this term to refer to allies see 30:14 and a semantically similar term in 4:30.

[22:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I spoke to you in your security.” The reference is to the sending of the prophets. Compare this context with the context of 7:25. For the nuance “security” for this noun (שַׁלְוָה, shalvah) rather than “prosperity” as many translate see Pss 122:7; 30:6 and the related adjective (שָׁלֵו, shalev) in Jer 49:31; Job 16:2; 21:23.

[22:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from your youth.” Compare the usage in 2:2; 3:24 and compare a similar idea in 7:25.

[22:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “A wind will shepherd away all your shepherds.” The figures have all been interpreted in the translation for the sake of clarity. For the use of the word “wind” as a metaphor or simile for God’s judgment (using the enemy forces) see 4:11-12; 13:24; 18:17. For the use of the word “shepherd” to refer to rulers/leaders 2:8; 10:21; and 23:1-4. For the use of the word “shepherd away” in the sense of carry off/drive away see BDB 945 s.v. רָעָה 2.d and compare Job 20:26. There is an obvious wordplay involved in two different senses of the word “shepherd,” one referring to their leaders and one referring to the loss of those leaders by the wind driving them off. There may even be a further play involving the word “wickedness” which comes from a word having the same consonants. If the oracles in this section are chronologically ordered this threat was fulfilled in 597 b.c. when many of the royal officials and nobles were carried away captive with Jehoiachin (see 2 Kgs 24:15) who is the subject of the next oracle.

[22:22]  ¹⁷ tn The use of the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is intensive here and probably also at the beginning of the last line of v. 21. (See BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e.)

[30:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “forgotten you.”

[30:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “attacked you like…with the chastening of a cruel one because of the greatness of your iniquity [and because] your sins are many.” The sentence has been broken down to conform to contemporary English style and better poetic scansion.

[16:37]  ²⁰ sn Harlots suffered degradation when their nakedness was exposed (Jer 13:22, 26; Hos 2:12; Nah 3:5).

[23:22]  ²¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[23:23]  ²² sn Pekod was the name of an Aramean tribe (known as Puqudu in Mesopotamian texts) that lived in the region of the Tigris River.

[23:23]  ²³ sn Shoa was the name of a nomadic people (the Sutu) that lived in Mesopotamia.

[23:23]  ²⁴ sn Koa was the name of another Mesopotamian people group (the Qutu).

[23:24]  ²⁵ tn Heb “come against.”

[23:24]  ²⁶ tn This is the only occurrence of this term in the OT. The precise meaning is uncertain.

[23:24]  ²⁷ tn Heb “an assembly of peoples.”

[23:24]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I will place before them judgment.”

[23:25]  ²⁹ tn Heb “give.”

[23:25]  ³⁰ tn Heb “they will remove.”

[23:25]  ³¹ tn Heb “fall.”

[2:7]  ³² tn Heb “overtake” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NLT “be able to catch up with.”

[2:7]  ³³ tn In the Hebrew text the accusative direct object pronoun אֹתָם (’otam, “them”) is omitted/elided for balanced poetic parallelism. The LXX supplies αὐτους (autous, “them”); but it is not necessary to emend the MT because this is a poetic literary convention rather than a textual problem.

[2:7]  ³⁴ tn Heb “I will go and return” (so NRSV). The two verbs joined with vav form a verbal hendiadys. Normally, the first verb functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal sense (GKC 386-87 §120.d, h). The Hebrew phrase אֵלְכָה וְאָשׁוּבָה (’elkhah vÿ’ashuvah, “I will go and I will return”) connotes, “I will return again.” As cohortatives, both verbs emphasize the resolution of the speaker.

[2:7]  ³⁵ tn Heb “to my man, the first.” Many English translations (e.g., KJV, NAB, NRSV, TEV) take this as “my first husband,” although this implies that there was more than one husband involved. The text refers to multiple lovers, but these were not necessarily husbands.

[2:7]  ³⁶ tn Or “because it was better for me then than now” (cf. NCV).

[17:13]  ³⁷ tn The word “kings” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to clarify the referent.

[17:16]  ³⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:16]  ³⁹ tn A new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:16]  ⁴⁰ tn The final clause could also be turned into an adverbial clause of means: “They will consume her flesh by burning her with fire.”