Section 5:1–7
The LORD will judge the people of Israel and Judah
In 5:1–4, the LORD condemned the people of Israel and Judah, including the priests and leaders, for their corruption, immorality, and idolatry. In 5:5–7, he warned them that he would leave them and allow them to be destroyed.
Here are some other examples of section headings:
Israel and Judah will be judged (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Punishment Coming for Israel and Judah (English Standard Version)
Paragraph 5:1–4
In this paragraph, the LORD made an accusation against the people of Israel. He made it clear that he knew everything they did. Nothing was hidden from him. He concluded by declaring that his people no longer knew him.
Since this paragraph occurs at the beginning of a new section, it may be helpful in some languages to make explicit that the LORD is the one who was speaking. For example, the Contemporary English Version begins this paragraph with:
The Lord said (Contemporary English Version)
Here is another way to introduce the paragraph:
The LORD continued to speak. He said
5:1a
Hear this, O priests! Take heed, O house of Israel! Give ear, O royal house!: The clauses Hear this, Take heed, and Give ear are three ways of saying the same thing. This repetition called attention to what the LORD was about to say.
Here the LORD addressed three groups in Israel:
(a) the priests
(b) the people of the nation of Israel
(c) the royal family
In some languages, it may be more natural to change the order of the phrases in these three lines. For example:
• Name the group of people before the verb:
“Priests, hear this! Israelites, pay attention! Royal house/family, listen!”
• List all of the groups together:
Priests, people of Israel, and royal house ⌊of Israel ⌋, pay attention ⌊to my words ⌋.
• Reorder the groups. For example, here is a list in a different order:
Listen, Royal house! Hear this, Priests! Pay attention, Israelites!
Use the order and forms of address that are most natural in your language for groups like these.
Hear this: This phrase refers to the words of the LORD that follow.
Here is another way to translate this phrase:
Hear these words that I am about to say.
priests: These are the same priests as in 4:4b. See the notes at 4:4b.
house of Israel: This phrase refers to the entire nation of the northern kingdom of Israel.
royal house: In Hebrew, this phrase is literally “house of the king.” It refers here to the king and his family.
O: There is no Hebrew word here for the word O. In the past, O was used as a formal way to address someone in English, so the Berean Standard Bible and some other versions have added it here. Use a term of address that is appropriate in your language for this context.
5:1b
this judgment is against you: In Hebrew, this clause is literally “the judgment ⌊belongs ⌋ to you.” It can be interpreted in two ways:
(1) It means that the LORD will judge the nation of Israel. For example:
because you will all be judged (New Century Version)
(2) It means that Israel is responsible to act justly. For example:
Justice was your duty (Contemporary English Version)
In some versions, both interpretations (1) and (2) are made explicit. For example:
You are supposed to judge with justice—so judgment will fall on you! (Good News Translation)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) along with most versions.
5:1c
Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:
because you have been a snare at Mizpah,
a net spread out on Tabor.
There is an ellipsis in the second line. In some languages, it may be necessary to supply the missing words from the first line. For example:
⌊ You have been⌋a net spread out on Tabor.
Each line is a metaphor. Both metaphors compare the leaders and influential people of Israel to traps used for catching birds. The birds represent the people. The meaning is that the leaders have led the people to worship false gods.
you have been a snare…a net spread out: The words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as snare and net refer to two kinds of bird traps. The difference of meaning between the two words is not important here. Both represent people who enticed others away from the LORD and into false worship.
If it is confusing or unnatural in your language to use metaphors like this, here are some other options:
• Change the metaphors into similes. For example:
You have been like a trap at Mizpah and like a net spread out at Mount Tabor. (New Century Version)
• Translate the meaning directly without using a figure of speech. For example:
For you have led the people to worship idols.
• Use a different idiom or figure of speech that conveys the right meaning in your language.
at Mizpah…on Tabor: Mizpah and Tabor are two locations in Israel where people worshiped idols. Here they are probably used as a figure of speech (synecdoche) that represents all the places in Israel where the people worshiped false gods.
Tabor is a site on a mountain. For that reason some versions make that explicit. For example:
like a net spread out at Mount Tabor. (New Century Version)
© 2021 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.