Ratapan 2:15

ס (Samek)

2:15 All who passed by on the road

clapped their hands to mock you. ¹ 

They sneered and shook their heads

at Daughter Jerusalem.

“Ha! Is this the city they called ² 

‘The perfection of beauty, ³ 

the source of joy of the whole earth!’?” ⁴ 

Ratapan 4:21-22

The Prophet Speaks:

ש (Sin/Shin)

4:21 Rejoice and be glad for now, ⁵  O people of Edom, ⁶ 

who reside in the land of Uz.

But the cup of judgment ⁷  will pass ⁸  to you also;

you will get drunk and take off your clothes.

ת (Tav)

4:22 O people of Zion, ⁹  your punishment ¹⁰  will come to an end; ¹¹ 

he will not prolong your exile. ¹² 

But, O people of Edom, ¹³  he will punish ¹⁴  your sin ¹⁵ 

and reveal ¹⁶  your offenses!

Mazmur 35:15

35:15 But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together;

they gathered together to ambush me. ¹⁷ 

They tore at me without stopping to rest. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 38:16

38:16 I have prayed for deliverance, because otherwise they will gloat over me; ¹⁹ 

when my foot slips they will arrogantly taunt me. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 137:7

137:7 Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did

on the day Jerusalem fell. ²¹ 

They said, “Tear it down, tear it down, ²² 

right to its very foundation!”

Yeremia 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, ²³ 

that you shook your head in contempt ²⁴ 

every time you talked about them? ²⁵ 

Yeremia 50:11

50:11 “People of Babylonia, ²⁶  you plundered my people. ²⁷ 

That made you happy and glad.

You frolic about like calves in a pasture. ²⁸ 

Your joyous sounds are like the neighs of a stallion. ²⁹ 

Yehezkiel 25:3

25:3 Say to the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the sovereign Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says: You said “Aha!” about my sanctuary when it was desecrated, about the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and about the house of Judah when they went into exile.

Yehezkiel 25:6

25:6 For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced with intense scorn ³⁰  over the land of Israel,

Yehezkiel 25:8

A Prophecy Against Moab

25:8 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Moab ³¹  and Seir say, “Look, the house of Judah is like all the other nations.”

Yehezkiel 25:15

A Prophecy Against Philistia

25:15 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The Philistines ³²  have exacted merciless revenge, ³³  showing intense scorn ³⁴  in their effort to destroy Judah ³⁵  with unrelenting hostility. ³⁶ 

Yehezkiel 26:2

26:2 “Son of man, because Tyre ³⁷  has said about Jerusalem, ³⁸  ‘Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I will become rich, ³⁹  now that she ⁴⁰  has been destroyed,’

Obaja 1:12-13

1:12 You should not ⁴¹  have gloated ⁴²  when your relatives ⁴³  suffered calamity. ⁴⁴ 

You should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah when they were destroyed. ⁴⁵ 

You should not have boasted ⁴⁶  when they suffered adversity. ⁴⁷ 

1:13 You should not have entered the city ⁴⁸  of my people when they experienced distress. ⁴⁹ 

You should not have joined ⁵⁰  in gloating over their misfortune when they suffered distress. ⁵¹ 

You should not have looted ⁵²  their wealth when they endured distress. ⁵³ 

[2:15]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “of which they said.”

[2:15]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “the joy of all the earth.” This is similar to statements found in Pss 48:2 and 50:2.

[4:21]  ⁵ tn The phrase “for now” is added in the translation to highlight the implied contrast between the present joy of the Gentiles (4:21a) and their future judgment (4:21b).

[4:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “O Daughter of Edom.”

[4:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “the cup.” Judgment is often depicted as a cup of wine that God forces a person to drink, causing him to lose consciousness, red wine drooling out of his mouth – resembling corpses lying on the ground as a result of the actual onslaught of the Lord’s judgment. The drunkard will reel and stagger, causing bodily injury to himself – an apt metaphor to describe the devastating effects of God’s judgment. Just as a cup of poison kills all those who are forced to drink it, the cup of God’s wrath destroys all those who must drink it (e.g., Ps 75:9; Isa 51:17, 22; Jer 25:15, 17, 28; 49:12; 51:7; Lam 4:21; Ezek 23:33; Hab 2:16).

[4:21]  ⁸ tn The imperfect verb “will pass” may also be a jussive, continuing the element of request, “let the cup pass…”

[4:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “O Daughter Zion.”

[4:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your iniquity.” The noun עָוֹן (’avon) has a broad range of meanings, including: (1) iniquity, (2) guilt of iniquity, and (3) consequence or punishment for iniquity (cause-effect metonymical relation). The context suggests that “punishment for sin” is most appropriate here (e.g., Gen 4:13; 19:15; Exod 28:38, 43; Lev 5:1, 17; 7:18; 10:17; 16:22; 17:16; 19:8; 20:17, 19; 22:16; 26:39, 41, 43; Num 5:31; 14:34; 18:1, 23; 30:15; 1 Sam 25:24; 28:10; 2 Sam 14:9; 2 Kgs 7:9; Job 10:14; Pss 31:11; 69:28; 106:43; Prov 5:22; Isa 5:18; 30:13; 40:2; 53:6, 11; 64:5, 6; Jer 51:6; Lam 4:22; 5:7; Ezek 4:4-6, 17; 7:16; 14:10; 18:19-20; 21:30, 34; 24:23; 32:27; 35:5; 39:23; 44:10, 12).

[4:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “will be completed.” The perfect tense verb תַּם (tam), Qal perfect 3rd person masculine singular from תָּמַם (tamam, “to be complete”), could be taken as a precative perfect expressing a request (“may your punishment be complete”). The translation understands it as an example of the so-called “prophetic perfect.” The perfect tense often describes actions that are viewed as complete (normally past- or present-time events). When the perfect tense describes a future event, it often depicts it as “complete,” that is, “as good as done” or certain to take place from the viewpoint of the prophet. Thus, by using the perfect tense, Jeremiah may be emphasizing the certainty that the exile will eventually come to an end. It has also been viewed as a simple perfect “your punishment is ended.”

[4:22]  ¹² tn The verb לֹא יוֹסִיף (lo’ yosif) could be taken as a precative perfect, making a request to God. See the note at the beginning of the verse.

[4:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “O Daughter of Edom.”

[4:22]  ¹⁴ tn The verb פָּקַד (paqad) could be taken as a precative perfect, making a request to God. See the note at the beginning of the verse.

[4:22]  ¹⁵ tn The noun עָוֹן (’avon) is repeated twice in this verse: its first occurrence means “punishment for iniquity” (v. 22a), and its second usage means “iniquity” (v. 22b). See preceding translator’s note on the broad range of meanings of this word. The repetition of the same root with different meanings creates an ironic polysemantic wordplay: Zion’s “punishment” for its sin is about to come to an end; however, the punishment for Edom’s “sin” is about to begin.

[4:22]  ¹⁶ tn The verb גִּלָּה (gillah) could be taken as a precative perfect, making a request to God. See the note at the beginning of the verse.

[35:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they gathered together against me, stricken [ones], and I did not know.” The Hebrew form נֵכִים (nekhim, “stricken ones” ?) is problematic. Some suggest an emendation to נָכְרִים[כְ] (kÿnokhÿrim, “foreigners”) or “like foreigners,” which would fit with what follows, “[like] foreigners that I do not recognize.” Perhaps the form should be read as a Qal active participle, נֹכִים (nokhim, “ones who strike”) from the verbal root נָכָה (nakhah, “to strike”). The Qal of this verb is unattested in biblical Hebrew, but the peal (basic) stem appears in Old Aramaic (J. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire [BibOr], 114; DNWSI 1:730.) In this case one might translate, “attackers gathered together against me though I was not aware of it” (cf. NASB “smiters”; NEB, NRSV “ruffians”; NIV “attackers”).

[35:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “they tore and did not keep quiet.” By using the verb “tear,” the psalmist likens his enemies to a wild animal (see Hos 13:8). In v. 17 he compares them to hungry young lions.

[38:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “For I said, ‘Lest they rejoice over me.’” The psalmist recalls the motivating argument of his petition. He probably prefaced this statement with a prayer for deliverance (see Pss 7:1-2; 13:3-4; 28:1).

[38:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they will magnify against me.” See Pss 35:26; 55:13.

[137:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem.”

[137:7]  ²² tn Heb “lay [it] bare, lay [it] bare.”

[48:27]  ²³ tn Heb “were they caught among thieves?”

[48:27]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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.

[50:11]  ²⁶ tn The words “People of Babylonia” are not in the text but they are implicit in the reference in the next verse to “your mother” which refers to the city and the land as the mother of its people. These words have been supplied in the translation to identify the referent of “you” and have been added for clarity.

[50:11]  ²⁷ tn Or “my land.” The word can refer to either the land (Jer 2:7, 16:8) or the nation/people (Jer 12:7, 8, 9).

[50:11]  ²⁸ tc Reading כְּעֶגְלֵי דֶשֶׁא (kÿ’egle deshe’) or כְּעֵגֶל בַּדֶּשֶׁא (kÿ’egel baddeshe’) as presupposed by the Greek and Latin versions (cf. BHS note d-d) in place of the reading in the Hebrew text כְּעֶגְלָה דָשָׁה (kÿ’eglah dashah, “like a heifer treading out the grain”) which does not fit the verb (פּוּשׁ [push] = “spring about” [BDB 807 s.v. I פּוּשׁ] or “paw the ground” [KBL 756 s.v. פּוּשׁ] and compare Mal 3:20 for usage). This variant reading is also accepted by J. Bright, J. A. Thompson, F. B. Huey, and G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers.

[50:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Though you rejoice, though you exult, you who have plundered my heritage, though you frolic like calves in a pasture and neigh like stallions, your mother…” The particle כִּי (ki) introduces a concessive protasis according to BDB 473 s.v. כִּי 2.c(a). Many interpret the particle as introducing the grounds for the next verse, i.e., “because…” The translation here will reflect the concessive by beginning the next verse with “But.” The long protasis has been broken up and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style.

[25:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “with all your scorn in (the) soul.”

[25:8]  ³¹ sn Moab was located immediately south of Ammon.

[25:15]  ³² sn The Philistines inhabited the coastal plain by the Mediterranean Sea, west of Judah.

[25:15]  ³³ tn Heb “have acted with vengeance and taken vengeance with vengeance.” The repetition emphasizes the degree of vengeance which they exhibited, presumably toward Judah.

[25:15]  ³⁴ tn Heb “with scorn in (the) soul.”

[25:15]  ³⁵ tn The object is not specified in the Hebrew text, but has been clarified as “Judah” in the translation.

[25:15]  ³⁶ tn Heb “to destroy (with) perpetual hostility.” Joel 3:4-8 also speaks of the Philistines taking advantage of the fall of Judah.

[26:2]  ³⁷ sn Tyre was located on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel.

[26:2]  ³⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[26:2]  ³⁹ tn Heb “I will be filled.”

[26:2]  ⁴⁰ sn That is, Jerusalem.

[1:12]  ⁴¹ tn In vv. 12-14 there are eight prohibitions which summarize the nature of the Lord’s complaint against Edom. Each prohibition alludes to something that Edom did to Judah that should not have been done by one “brother” to another. It is because of these violations that the Lord has initiated judgment against Edom. In the Hebrew text these prohibitions are expressed by אַל (’al, “not”) plus the jussive form of the verb, which is common in negative commands of immediate urgency. Such constructions would normally have the sense of prohibiting something either not yet begun (i.e., “do not start to …”) or something already in process at the time of speaking (i.e., “stop…”). Here, however, it seems more likely that the prohibitions refer to a situation in past rather than future time (i.e., “you should not have …”). If so, the verbs are being used in a rhetorical fashion, as though the prophet were vividly projecting himself back into the events that he is describing and urging the Edomites not to do what in fact they have already done.

[1:12]  ⁴² tn The Hebrew expression “to look upon” often has the sense of “to feast the eyes upon” or “to gloat over” (cf. v. 13).

[1:12]  ⁴³ tn Heb “your brother” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); NCV “your brother Israel.”

[1:12]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “in the day of your brother, in the day of his calamity.” This expression is probably a hendiadys meaning, “in the day of your brother’s calamity.” The Hebrew word נָכְרוֹ (nokhro, “his calamity”)_is probably a word-play on נָכְרִים (nokherim, “foreigners”) in v. 11.

[1:12]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “in the day of their destruction” (so KJV, NASB, NIV); NAB, NRSV “on the day of their ruin.”

[1:12]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “boasted with your mouth.” The Hebrew text includes the phrase “with your mouth,” which is redundant in English and has been left untranslated.

[1:12]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “in the day of adversity”; NASB “in the day of their distress.”

[1:13]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the gate.” The term “gate” here functions as a synecdoche for the city as a whole, which the Edomites plundered.

[1:13]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “in the day of their distress.” The phrase is used three times in this verse; the Hebrew word translated “distress” (אֵידָם, ’edam) is a wordplay on the name Edom. For stylistic reasons and to avoid monotony, in the present translation this phrase is rendered: “when they experienced distress,” “when they suffered distress,” and “when they endured distress.”

[1:13]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “you, also you.”

[1:13]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “in the day of his distress.” In this and the following phrase at the end of v. 13 the suffix is 3rd person masculine singular. As collective singulars both occurrences have been translated as plurals (“they suffered distress…endured distress” rather than “he suffered distress…endured distress”).

[1:13]  ⁵² tc In the MT the verb is feminine plural, but the antecedent is unclear. The Hebrew phrase תִּשְׁלַחְנָה (tishlakhnah) here should probably be emended to read תִּשְׁלַח יָד (tishlakh yad), although yad (“hand”) is not absolutely essential to this idiom.

[1:13]  ⁵³ tn See the note on the phrase “suffered distress” in the previous line.