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1The destroyer is as good as dead,[#tn Heb “Woe [to] the destroyer.”sn In this context “the destroyer” appears to refer collectively to the hostile nations (vv. 3-4). Assyria would probably have been primary in the minds of the prophet and his audience.]
you who have not been destroyed!
The deceitful one is as good as dead,
the one whom others have not deceived!
When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;
when you finish deceiving, others will deceive you!
2Lord , be merciful to us! We wait for you.
Give us strength each morning!
Deliver us when distress comes.
3The nations run away when they hear a loud noise;[#tn Heb “at the sound of tumult the nations run away.”]
the nations scatter when you spring into action!
4Your plunder disappears as if locusts were eating it;[#tn The pronoun is plural; the statement is addressed to the nations who have stockpiled plunder from their conquests of others.; #tn Heb “and your plunder is gathered, the gathering of the locust.”]
they swarm over it like locusts!
5The Lord is exalted,[#tn Or “elevated”; NCV, NLT “is very great.”]
indeed, he lives in heaven;
he fills Zion with justice and fairness.
6He is your constant source of stability;[#tn Heb “and he is the stability of your times.”]
he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom;
he gives all this to those who fear him.
7Look, ambassadors cry out in the streets;[#tn The meaning of the Hebrew word is unknown. Proposals include “heroes” (cf. KJV, ASV “valiant ones”; NASB, NIV “brave men”); “priests,” “residents [of Jerusalem].” The present translation assumes that the term is synonymous with “messengers of peace,” with which it corresponds in the parallel structure of the verse.]
messengers sent to make peace weep bitterly.
8Highways are empty,[#tn Or “desolate” (NAB, NASB); NIV, NRSV, NLT “deserted.”]
there are no travelers.
Treaties are broken,
witnesses are despised,
human life is treated with disrespect.
9The land dries up and withers away;[#tn Or “earth” (KJV); NAB “the country.”; #tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. I אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism. See 24:4.]
the forest of Lebanon shrivels up and decays.
Sharon is like the desert;
Bashan and Carmel are parched.
10“Now I will rise up,” says the Lord .
“Now I will exalt myself;
now I will magnify myself.
11You conceive straw,[#tn The second person verb and pronominal forms in this verse are plural. The hostile nations are the addressed, as the next verse makes clear.]
you give birth to chaff;
your breath is a fire that destroys you.
12The nations will be burned to ashes;[#tn Heb “will be a burning to lime.” See Amos 2:1.]
like thorn bushes that have been cut down, they will be set on fire.
13You who are far away, listen to what I have done!
You who are close by, recognize my strength!”
14Sinners are afraid in Zion;
panic grips the godless.
They say, ‘Who among us can coexist with destructive fire?
Who among us can coexist with unquenchable fire?’
15The one who lives uprightly[#tn Heb “walks” (so NASB, NIV).; #tn Or, possibly, “justly”; NAB “who practices virtue.”]
and speaks honestly;
the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures
and rejects a bribe;
the one who does not plot violent crimes
and does not seek to harm others –
16This is the person who will live in a secure place;[#tn Heb “he [in the] exalted places will live.”]
he will find safety in the rocky, mountain strongholds;
he will have food
and a constant supply of water.
17You will see a king in his splendor;[#tn Heb “your eyes will see a king in his beauty”; NIV, NRSV “the king.”]
you will see a wide land.
18Your mind will recall the terror you experienced,[#tn Heb “your heart will meditate on terror.”]
and you will ask yourselves, “Where is the scribe?
Where is the one who weighs the money?
Where is the one who counts the towers?”
19You will no longer see a defiant people[#tn The Hebrew form נוֹעָז (no’az) is a Niphal participle derived from יָעַז (ya’az, an otherwise unattested verb) or from עָזָז (’azaz, “be strong,” unattested elsewhere in the Niphal). Some prefer to emend the form to לוֹעֵז (lo’ez) which occurs in Ps 114:1 with the meaning “speak a foreign language.” See HALOT 809 s.v. עזז, 533 s.v. לעז. In this case, one might translate “people who speak a foreign language.”]
whose language you do not comprehend,
whose derisive speech you do not understand.
20Look at Zion, the city where we hold religious festivals!
You will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful settlement,
a tent that stays put;
its stakes will never be pulled up;
none of its ropes will snap in two.
21Instead the Lord will rule there as our mighty king.[#tn Heb “But there [as] a mighty one [will be] the Lord for us.”]
Rivers and wide streams will flow through it;
no war galley will enter;
no large ships will sail through.
22For the Lord , our ruler,
the Lord , our commander,
the Lord , our king –
he will deliver us.
23Though at this time your ropes are slack,[#tn The words “though at this time” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first half of the verse is addressed to Judah and contrasts the nation’s present weakness with its future prosperity. Judah is compared to a ship that is incapable of sailing.]
the mast is not secured,
and the sail is not unfurled,
at that time you will divide up a great quantity of loot;
even the lame will drag off plunder.
24No resident of Zion will say, “I am ill”;[#tn The words “of Zion” are supplied in the translation for clarification.]
the people who live there will have their sin forgiven.