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
6:14 “Look! I am about to bring 7 a nation against you, family 8 of Israel.”
The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking.
“They will oppress 9 you all the way from Lebo-Hamath 10 to the Stream of the Arabah.” 11
“Look, I am about to place tin among my people Israel.
I will no longer overlook their sin. 12
9:9 “For look, I am giving a command
and I will shake the family of Israel together with all the nations.
It will resemble a sieve being shaken,
when not even a pebble falls to the ground. 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 Or “raise up” (KJV, NASB); NIV “stir up.”
8 tn Heb “house.”
9 sn Once again there is irony in the divine judgment. The oppressive nation itself will suffer oppression. The verb “oppress” (לָחַץ, lakhats) in this verse is not the same as that used in 4:1 (עָשַׁק, ’ashaq).
10 tn Or “from the entrance to Hamath.” The Hebrew term לְבוֹא (lÿvo’) can either be translated or considered a part of the place name.
11 sn Lebo-Hamath refers to the northern border of Israel, the Stream of the Arabah to its southern border. See 2 Kgs 14:25. Through this invader the Lord would reverse the victories and territorial expansion Israel experienced during the reign of Jeroboam II.
12 tn Heb “And I will no longer pass over him.”
13 tn Heb “like being shaken with a sieve, and a pebble does not fall to the ground.” The meaning of the Hebrew word צְרוֹר (tsÿror), translated “pebble,” is unclear here. In 2 Sam 17:13 it appears to refer to a stone. If it means “pebble,” then the sieve described in v. 6 allows the grain to fall into a basket while retaining the debris and pebbles. However, if one interprets צְרוֹר as a “kernel of grain” (cf. NASB, NIV, NKJV, NLT) then the sieve is constructed to retain the grain and allow the refuse and pebbles to fall to the ground. In either case, the simile supports the last statement in v. 8 by making it clear that God will distinguish between the righteous (the grain) and the wicked (the pebbles) when he judges, and will thereby preserve a remnant in Israel. Only the sinners will be destroyed (v. 10).