Yehezkiel 24:6

24:6 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says:

Woe to the city of bloodshed,

the pot whose rot ¹  is in it,

whose rot has not been removed ²  from it!

Empty it piece by piece.

No lot has fallen on it. ³ 

Yoel 3:3

3:3 and they cast lots for my people.

They traded ⁴  a boy for a prostitute;

they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink. ⁵ 

Obaja 1:11

1:11 You stood aloof ⁶  while strangers took his army ⁷  captive,

and foreigners advanced to his gates. ⁸ 

When they cast lots ⁹  over Jerusalem, ¹⁰ 

you behaved as though you were in league ¹¹  with them.

Nahum 3:10

3:10 Yet she went into captivity as an exile; ¹² 

even her infants were smashed to pieces ¹³  at the head of every street.

They cast lots ¹⁴  for her nobility; ¹⁵ 

all her dignitaries were bound with chains.

[24:6]  ¹ tn Or “rust.”

[24:6]  ² tn Heb “has not gone out.”

[24:6]  ³ tn Here “lot” may refer to the decision made by casting lots; it is not chosen at all.

[3:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “gave.”

[3:3]  ⁵ sn Heb “and they drank.” Joel vividly refers to a situation where innocent human life has little value; its only worth is its use in somehow satisfying selfish appetites of wicked people who have control over others (cf. Amos 2:6 and 8:6).

[1:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the day of your standing”; NAB “On the day when you stood by.”

[1:11]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps, “wealth” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The Hebrew word is somewhat ambiguous here. This word also appears in v. 13, where it clearly refers to wealth.

[1:11]  ⁸ tc The present translation follows the Qere which reads the plural (“gates”) rather than the singular.

[1:11]  ⁹ sn Casting lots seems to be a way of deciding who would gain control over material possessions and enslaved peoples following a military victory.

[1:11]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “like one from them”; NASB “You too were as one of them.”

[3:10]  ¹² tc The MT reads לַגֹּלָה (laggolah, “as a captive”) with the preposition לְ (lamed) denoting essence/identity. On the other hand, 4QpNah reads בגולה (“as a captive”) with the preposition בְּ (bet) denoting essence/identity (“as a captive”). The LXX’s αἰξμάλωτος (aixmalwto", “as a prisoner”) does not reveal which preposition was the original.

[3:10]  ¹³ tc The past-time reference of the context indicates that the Pual verb יְרֻטְּשׁוּ (yÿruttÿshu) is a preterite describing past action (“they were smashed to pieces”) rather than an imperfect describing future action (“they will be smashed to pieces”). The past-time sense is supported by the Syriac and Vulgate. The LXX, however, misunderstood the form as an imperfect. Not recognizing that the form is a preterite, the BHS editors suggest emending to Pual perfect רֻטְּשׁוּ (ruttÿshu, “they were smashed to pieces”). This emendation is unnecessary once the possibility of a preterite is recognized. The Masoretic reading is supported by the reading ירוטשו found in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpNah 3:10).

[3:10]  ¹⁴ tc The MT reads יַדּוּ (yadu, “they cast [lots]”) from יָדַד (yadad, “to cast [lots]”). On the other hand, the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpNah) read ירו (“they threw, cast [lots]”) from יָרָה (yarah, “to throw, cast [lots]”) (e.g., Josh 18:6). The textual variant arose due to orthographic confusion between ד (dalet) and ר (resh) – two Hebrew letters very similar in appearance. The root יָדַד is relatively rare – it occurs only two other times (Obad 11; Joel 4:3 [3:3 ET]) – therefore, it might have been confused with יָרָה which appears more frequently.

[3:10]  ¹⁵ tc The MT and Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpNah) read ועל נכבדיה (“for her nobles”). The LXX reflects וְעַל כָּל נִכְבַּדֶּיהָ (vÿ’al kol nikhbaddeha, “for all her nobles”), adding כָּל (“all”). The LXX addition probably was caused by the influence of the repetition of כָּל in the preceding and following lines.