This house will become a heap of ruins: This house is the Temple. For the whole clause the Masoretic Text says “this house will be high/exalted,” but this makes no sense in the context. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh attempts to make sense of the Hebrew by treating the words here as indicating a concession with the meaning “even though the Temple was exalted.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “as for this House, once so exalted, everyone passing by it shall…” (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Nouvelle Bible Segond). But it is very doubtful that the Hebrew can be forced to have this meaning. A footnote in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh gives the reading found in several ancient versions (those followed by Revised Standard Version), which implies that the New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh translators themselves do not think the Masoretic Text is correct here.
New International Version also attempts to translate the Masoretic Text. New International Version reads “And though this temple is now imposing, all who pass by…” (similarly New Living Translation); but it is doubtful that the Hebrew grammar can be forced to give this meaning either. These translations that attempt to translate the Masoretic Text here do not say that the Temple will be destroyed, since the Masoretic Text does not have the word “ruin.”
New Jerusalem Bible follows one part of the Septuagint tradition in reading the two Hebrew words for “will be high” as the single adjective “high.” New Jerusalem Bible says “As for this once-exalted Temple, everyone who passes by…,” but this translation, which is similar to that in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, is not recommended.
The Hebrew word for “high” may be the result of a scribe having accidentally or deliberately reversed the order of the first two letters in the Hebrew noun for “ruin.” Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation are corrections of the Hebrew text based on the reading of ancient translations in Syriac and Latin (also Revised English Bible). Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {C} rating to this correction based on the ancient versions. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament argues that before the Masoretic Text was fixed in its present form, a pious scribe changed the word “ruin” to “high” in order to eliminate the prophecy about the destruction of the Temple. Translators should follow the meaning found in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Compare also Contemporary English Version, which says “This temple will become a pile of rocks!” The destruction of the Temple in the sixth century B.C. by the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia is reported in 2 Kgs 25.9 and 2 Chr 36.19.
Will hiss: The Hebrew verb here and related nouns usually refer to the sound made by someone when passing by ruins and deserted areas where there was once a great city or power. It refers to the action of whistling (so New Jerusalem Bible) or hissing. The significance of this action is usually understood as an expression of shock (Contemporary English Version “will be shocked”), amazement, or derision (making negative comments). New American Bible, for example, combines the verbs astonished and hiss to read “shall catch his breath in amazement.” Some interpreters, however, understand the significance of the whistling to be that of keeping demons away from the person whistling.
Why has the LORD done thus to this land…?: This is the same question that Moses said people from other nations would ask (Deut 29.24). But the writer here goes on to add and to this house. Not only would the land of Israel be treated badly by the LORD, but also the Temple in which the Israelites worship him would suffer disgrace.
This question is a quotation within a quotation. Here Good News Translation maintains the form of the Hebrew, but in some languages it may be better to restate this in the form of an indirect quotation. One may say, for example, “they will ask why the LORD has done such a thing….”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .