Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

6. The Lord's Case Against Israel

¹ Listen to what the LORD says:

“Stand up, plead my case before the mountains;
let the hills hear what you have to say.

    ² “Hear, you mountains, the LORD’s accusation;
   listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth.
For the LORD has a case against his people;
   he is lodging a charge against Israel.

    ³ “My people, what have I done to you?
   How have I burdened you? Answer me.
⁴ I brought you up out of Egypt
   and redeemed you from the land of slavery.
I sent Moses to lead you,
   also Aaron and Miriam.
⁵ My people, remember
   what Balak king of Moab plotted
   and what Balaam son of Beor answered.
Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal,
   that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”

    ⁶ With what shall I come before the LORD
   and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
   with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
   with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
   the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
⁸ He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
   And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
   and to walk humbly Or prudently with your God.

Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

    ⁹ Listen! The LORD is calling to the city—
   and to fear your name is wisdom—
   “Heed the rod and the One who appointed it. The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.
¹⁰ Am I still to forget your ill-gotten treasures, you wicked house,
   and the short ephah, An ephah was a dry measure. which is accursed?
¹¹ Shall I acquit someone with dishonest scales,
   with a bag of false weights?
¹² Your rich people are violent;
   your inhabitants are liars
   and their tongues speak deceitfully.
¹³ Therefore, I have begun to destroy you,
   to ruin Or Therefore, I will make you ill and destroy you; / I will ruin you because of your sins.
¹⁴ You will eat but not be satisfied;
   your stomach will still be empty. The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
You will store up but save nothing,
   because what you save Or You will press toward birth but not give birth, / and what you bring to birth I will give to the sword.
¹⁵ You will plant but not harvest;
   you will press olives but not use the oil,
   you will crush grapes but not drink the wine.
¹⁶ You have observed the statutes of Omri
   and all the practices of Ahab’s house;
   you have followed their traditions.
Therefore I will give you over to ruin
   and your people to derision;
   you will bear the scorn of the nations. Septuagint; Hebrew scorn due my people”

Interpreters differ as to the word האש, eash: some think that it ought to be read האיש, eaish, with an addition of two letters, and render it, “Is it yet man?” But this would render the passage abrupt. Others translate, “Is there yet fire?” As though it was אש, ash; and they suppose that wealth, wickedly and unjustly got, is so called, because it consumes itself. But as this is against what grammar requires, I am more inclined to take their view, who think that האש, eash, is to be taken here for היש, eish, ¹⁷²¹⁷²     One MS. Has היש, which no doubt is the true reading. The Septuagint has μηπυρ, which seems to have no sense whatever. Many copies have האיש, and this is the reading followed by Junius and Tremelius, and their version is this, —
   Has any one still the house of a dishonest man?
The treasures of dishonesty?
And the small detestable ephah?
   — Ed. , aleph being put for jod: and they rightly consider that the sentence is to be read as a question, Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the ungodly? If this view be approved, then we must consider the Prophet as proposing a question respecting a thing really monstrous, — How can it be that treasures, gathered by plunder and wickedness, still remain with you, since ye have been so often warned, and since God daily urges you to repentance? How great is your hardness, that no fear of God lays hold on your minds? But the meaning would not be unsuitable were we to regard God as a Judge examining them concerning a matter unknown, Are there still the treasures of impiety in the house of the ungodly? that is, “I will see whether the ungodly and wicked hide their treasures:” for God often assumes the character of earthly judges; not that any thing escapes his knowledge, but that we may know that he is not precipitant in deciding a question. This view, then, is by no means inappropriate, that is, that God here assumes the character of an earthly judge, and thus speaks, “I will see whether there are still treasures concealed by the ungodly; I will search their houses; I will know whether they have as yet repented of their crimes.” thus, then, may be understood the words of the Prophet, Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the ungodly? For God, as I have already said, shows that he would know respecting the plunders and the various kinds of cruelty which they had exercised.

He then adds, Is there the bare measure, that is, a measure less than it ought to be, which is detestable? ¹⁷³¹⁷³ Literally it is, “And the ephah of detestable scantiness?” Marckius renders the words, “Et ephah tenuitatis abominabilis?” Henderson, “And the accursed scanty ephah?” Then he says,