5:12 Certainly 1 I am aware of 2 your many rebellious acts 3
and your numerous sins.
You 4 torment the innocent, you take bribes,
and you deny justice to 5 the needy at the city gate. 6
5:15 Hate what is wrong, love what is right!
Promote 7 justice at the city gate! 8
Maybe the Lord, the God who commands armies, will have mercy on 9 those who are left from 10 Joseph. 11
6:12 Can horses run on rocky cliffs?
Can one plow the sea with oxen? 12
Yet you have turned justice into a poisonous plant,
and the fruit of righteous actions into a bitter plant. 13
1 tn Or “for.”
2 tn Or “I know” (so most English versions).
3 tn Or “transgressions,” “sins.” See the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3 and on the phrase “covenant violations” in 2:4.
4 tn Heb “Those who.”
5 tn Heb “turn aside.” They “turn aside” the needy by denying them the justice they deserve at the city gate (where legal decisions were made, and therefore where justice should be done).
6 sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate, where the town elders met.
7 tn Heb “set up, establish.” In the ancient Near East it was the responsibility especially of the king to establish justice. Here the prophet extends that demand to local leaders and to the nation as a whole (cf. 5:24).
8 sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate (see the note in v. 12). This repetition of this phrase serves to highlight a deliberate contrast to the injustices cited in vv. 11-13.
9 tn Or “will show favor to.”
10 tn Or “the remnant of” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “what’s left of your people.”
11 sn Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.
12 tc Heb “Does one plow with oxen?” This obviously does not fit the parallelism, for the preceding rhetorical question requires the answer, “Of course not!” An error of fusion has occurred in the Hebrew, with the word יָם (yam, “sea”) being accidentally added as a plural ending to the collective noun בָּקָר (baqar, “oxen”). A proper division of the consonants produces the above translation, which fits the parallelism and also anticipates the answer, “Of course not!”
13 sn The botanical imagery, when juxtaposed with the preceding rhetorical questions, vividly depicts and emphasizes how the Israelites have perverted justice and violated the created order by their morally irrational behavior.