Vocabulary

Verse 18

            חגר  verb: “bind on” (BDB, 291)

            שֹק  “sackcloth” (BDB, 974)

            כסה  verb (Piel perfect 3fs): “cover”

            פלצות  noun (fs): “shuddering” (BDB, 814)

            בושׁה  “shame” (BDB, 102)

            קרחה  “baldness” (BDB, 901)

Syntax & Miscellaneous

• The feminine noun, פַּלָּצ֑וּת, is the subject of the clause.  Other uses of this term as shuddering or horror in the MT include: Job 21:6; Psalm 55:6; Isaiah 21:4.
• The final two clauses, separated by waw, are verbless of typology P-S.
• This verse describes the mourning practices of a people under the peril of divine judgment.

Vocabulary

Verse 19

            חוץ  “street (or outside)”

            נדה  “impure thing” (BDB, 622)

            נצל  verb (Hiphil infinitive construct with 3mpl suffix): “save, deliver”

            עברה  “rage, fury” (BDB, 720)

            מעה  “stomach” (BDB, 588)

            מכשׁול  “stumbling block” (BDB, 506)

Verse 20

            צבי  “beauty” (BDB, 840)

            עדי  “ornaments” (BDB, 725)

            גאון  “exaltation, pride” (BDB, 144)

            צלם  “image” (BDB, 853)

            תועבה  “abomination”

            שׁקוץ  “detested thing (idol)” (BDB, 622)

            נדה  “impure thing” (BDB, 622)

Verse 21

            זר  “stranger, foreigner”

            בז  “spoiling, robbery” (BDB, 103)

            שׁלל  “spoil, booty”

            חלל  verb: “profane, defile”

Verse 22

            סבב  verb (Hiphil waw-consecutive perfect 1cs): “turn away”

            צפון  “treasured place” (BDB, 860)

            פריץ  “violent one” (BDB, 829)

Syntax & Misc.

Verse 19

• Notice the division of the word pair, כסף וזהב, into two separate lines.
• The lack of a typical clause connector (asyndeton) before כַּסְפָּ֨ם וּזְהָבָ֜ם לֹֽא־יוּכַ֣ל לְהַצִּילָ֗ם marks an epexegetical clause that is it explains what is meant by the people casting their money into the streets, etc.
• See the connection to Zephaniah 1:18: גַּם־כַּסְפָּ֙ם גַּם־זְהָבָ֜ם לֹֽא־יוּכַ֣ל לְהַצִּילָ֗ם בְּיוֹם֙ עֶבְרַ֣ת יְהוָ֔ה.
• This clause, מִכְשׁ֥וֹל עֲוֹנָ֖ם הָיָֽה, is the contrapositive of Psalm 119:165:שָׁל֣וֹם רָ֭ב לְאֹהֲבֵ֣י תוֹרָתֶ֑ךָ וְאֵֽין־לָ֥מוֹ מִכְשֽׁוֹל.  See also Ezekiel 3:20.

Verse 20

• The object phrase, צְבִ֤י עֶדְיוֹ֙, is fronted.
• The relation between the two fronted phrases, צַלְמֵ֧י תוֹעֲבֹתָ֛ם שִׁקּוּצֵיהֶ֖ם, could be conjunctive (“their imagines of abomination and their detestable things [i.e. idols]”) or appositional (“their imagines of abomination that is idols”).
• The phrase, עַל־כֵּ֛ן, means “therefore.”

Verse 21

• Qere: וְחִלְּלֽוּהוּ.

Verse 22

• The 3fs suffix, בָ֥הּ, refers to the צפון “treasured (secret) place.”