Hosea 5 · Verse 1

Hosea 5:1

Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
Hosea 5:1, King James Version

Hosea 5:1 in other translations

BSB“Hear this, O priests! Take heed, O house of Israel! Give ear, O royal house! For this judgment is against you because you have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Tabor.
WEB“Listen to this, you priests! Listen, house of Israel, and give ear, house of the king! For the judgment is against you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor.
ASVHear this, O ye priests, and hearken, O house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king; for unto you pertaineth the judgment; for ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
YLT‘Hear this, O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, And, O house of the king, give ear, For the judgment is for you, For, a snare ye have been on Mizpah, And a net spread out on Tabor.
DARBYHear this, ye priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ear, O house of the king: for this judgment is for you; for ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
BBEGive ear to this, O priests; give attention, O Israel, and you, family of the king; for you are to be judged; you have been a deceit at Mizpah and a net stretched out on Tabor.
WebsterHear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is towards you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

What does Hosea 5:1 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

Ho 5:1-5. God's Judgments on the Priests, People, and Princes of Israel for Their Sins.

Judah, too, being guilty shall be punished; nor shall Assyria, whose aid they both sought, save them; judgments shall at last lead them to repentance. 1. the king--probably Pekah; the contemporary of Ahaz, king of Judah, under whom idolatry was first carried so far in Judah as to call for the judgment of the joint Syrian and Israelite invasion, as also that of Assyria. judgment is towards you--that is, threatens you from God. ye have been a snare on Mizpah ... net ... upon Tabor--As hunters spread their net and snares on the hills, Mizpah and Tabor, so ye have snared the people into idolatry and made them your prey by injustice. As Mizpah and Tabor mean a "watch tower," and a "lofty place," a fit scene for hunters, playing on the words, the prophet implies, in the lofty place in which I have set you, whereas ye ought to have been the watchers of the people, guarding them from evil, ye have been as hunters entrapping them into it [Jerome]. These two places are specified, Mizpah in the east and Tabor in the west, to include the high places throughout the whole kingdom, in which Israel's rulers set up idolatrous altars.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Introduction

This chapter begins with threatening the Israelites for ensnaring the people to idolatry by their sacrifices and other rites on Mizpah and Tabor, Hos 5:1-5. Their sacrifices, however costly, are declared to be unacceptable, Hos 5:6; and their substance is devoted to the locust, Hos 5:7. Nor is judgment to stop here. The cities of Judah are called upon, in a very animated manner, to prepare for the approach of enemies. Benjamin is to be pursued; Ephraim is to be desolate; and all this is intimated to Israel, that they may by repentance avert the judgment, Hos 5:8, Hos 5:9. The following verses contain farther denunciations, Hos 5:10-13, expressed in terms equally terrible and sublime, Hos 5:14. The Lord afflicts not willingly the children of men; he visits them with temporal calamities that he may heal their spiritual malady, Hos 5:15. Verse 1 Hear ye this, O priests - A process is instituted against the priests, the Israelites, and the house of the king; and they are called on to appear and defend themselves. The accusation is, that they have ensnared the people, caused them to practice idolatry, both at Mizpah and Tabor. Mizpah was situated beyond Jordan; in the mountains of Gilead; see Jdg 11:29. And Tabor was a beautiful mountain in the tribe of Zebulum. Both these places are said to be eminent for hunting etc., and hence the natural occurrence of the words snare and net, in speaking of them.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Hosea 5:1-7
The Divine judgments against Israel. (Hos. 5:1-7) Approaching desolations threatened. (Hos. 5:8-15) Verses 1-7 The piercing eye of God saw secret liking and disposition to sin, the love the house of Israel had to their sins, and the dominion their sins had over them. Pride makes men obstinate in other sins. And as Judah was treading in the same steps, they would fall with Israel. By dealing treacherously with the Lord, men only deceive themselves. Those that go to seek the Lord with their flocks and their herds only, and not with their hearts and souls, cannot expect to find him; nor shall any speed who do not seek the Lord while he may be found. See how much it is our concern to seek God early, now, while it is the accepted time, and the day of salvation.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Hosea 5:1 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

שִׁמְעוּ\־shim.'u-hearH8085
זֹ֨אתzotthisH2063
הַכֹּהֲנִ֜יםha.ko.ha.NimO priestsH3548
וְהַקְשִׁ֣יבוּ\׀ve.hak.Shi.vuand pay attentionH7181
בֵּ֣יתbeitO house ofH1004
יִשְׂרָאֵ֗לYis.ra.'ElIsraelH3478
וּבֵ֤יתu.Veitand O house ofH1004
הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙ha.Me.lekhthe kingH4428
הַאֲזִ֔ינוּha.'a.Zi.nugive earH238
כִּ֥יkiforH3588
לָכֶ֖םla.Khem[belongs] to you
הַמִּשְׁפָּ֑טha.mish.Patthe judgmentH4941
כִּֽי\־ki-forH3588
פַח֙facha trapH6341
הֱיִיתֶ֣םhe.yi.Temyou have beenH1961
לְמִצְפָּ֔הle.mitz.Pahto MizpahH4709
וְרֶ֖שֶׁתve.Re.shetand a netH7568
פְּרוּשָׂ֥הpe.ru.Sahspread outH6566
עַל\־'al-overH5921
תָּבֽוֹר\׃ta.VorTaborH8396

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Hosea 5:1

  • Hosea 9:8

    The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.

  • Micah 7:2

    The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.

  • Habakkuk 1:15-17

    They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?

  • Hosea 6:9

    And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

  • Micah 3:9

    Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.

  • Hosea 9:11-17

    As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception. Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them! Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer. Give them, O Lord: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. …

  • Malachi 2:1

    And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.

  • 1 Kings 21:18-22

    Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, …

  • Hosea 10:15

    So shall Beth–el do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.

  • Judges 4:6

    And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh–naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?

  • Amos 7:9

    And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

  • Hosea 4:1

    Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1 The judgments of God are denounced against the priests, people, and princes, both of Israel and Judah, for their manifold sins.
15 An intimation is given of mercy on their repentance.

O priests.
4:1,6,7; 6:9; Mal 1:6; 2:1
O house.
7:3-5; 1Ki 14:7-16; 21:18-22; 2Ch 21:12-15; Jer 13:18; 22:1-9
Am 7:9; Mic 3:1,9
for.
9:11-17; 10:15; 13:8
ye have.
9:8; Mic 7:2; Hab 1:15-17
Tabor.
Jud 4:6; Jer 46:18

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Hosea 5:1

    Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

  • Hosea 5:2

    And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.

Read all of Hosea 5

Hosea 5:1 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
SACERDOTES, oid esto, y estad atentos, casa de Israel; y casa del rey, escuchad: porque á vosotros es el juicio, pues habéis sido lazo en Mizpa, y red extendida sobre Tabor.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
*Écoutez ceci, sacrificateurs; et sois attentive, maison d’Israël, et prête l’oreille, maison du roi, car c’est contre vous qu’est le jugement; car vous avez été un piège à Mitspa, et un filet étendu sur le Thabor.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Höret dieses, ihr Priester, und merket auf, Haus Israel! und ihr, Haus des Königs, nehmet es zu Ohren! denn euch gilt das Gericht; denn ihr seid eine Schlinge zu Mizpa geworden und ein ausgebreitetes Netz auf Tabor;
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Audite hoc, sacerdotes, et attendite, domus Israël, et domus regis, auscultate: quia vobis judicium est, quoniam laqueus facti estis speculationi, et rete expansum super Thabor.