4:6 You have destroyed 1 my people
by failing to acknowledge me!
Because you refuse to acknowledge me, 2
I will reject you as my priests.
Because you reject 3 the law of your God,
I will reject 4 your descendants.
9:1 O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly 5 like the nations,
for you are unfaithful 6 to your God.
You love to receive a prostitute's wages 7
on all the floors where you thresh your grain.
10:13 But you have plowed wickedness;
you have reaped injustice;
you have eaten the fruit of deception.
Because you have depended on your chariots; 8
you have relied 9 on your many warriors.
10:14 The roar of battle will rise against your people;
all your fortresses will be devastated,
just as Shalman devastated 10 Beth Arbel on the day of battle,
when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.
1 tn Heb “they have destroyed” or “my people are destroyed” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).
2 tn Heb “Because you reject knowledge”; NLT “because they don’t know me.”
3 tn Heb “have forgotten”; NAB, NIV “have ignored.”
4 tn Heb “forget” (so KJV, NRSV); NLT “forget to bless.”
5 tn Heb “do not rejoice unto jubilation”; KJV “Rejoice not…for joy”; NASB “Do not rejoice…with exultation.”
6 tn Heb “you have committed adultery”; NRSV “you have played the whore.”
7 tn Heb “you love the wages of the prostitute” (NIV similar); NAB “loving a harlot’s hire.”
8 tc The MT (followed by KJV, NASB) reads the enigmatic בְּדַרְכְּךָ (bÿdarkÿkha, “in your own way”) which does not seem to fit the context or the parallelism with בְּרֹב גִּבּוֹרֶיךָ (bÿrov gibborekha, “in your multitude of warriors”). The BHS editors suggest the original reading was בְרִכְבְּךָ (vÿrikhbÿkha, “in your chariots”), a reading followed by NAB, TEV. If this is correct, the textual corruption was caused by orthographic confusion between רֶכֶב (rekhev, “chariot”) and דֶּרֶכ (derekh, “way”).
9 tn The phrase “you have relied” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the parallelism in the preceding line.
10 tn Heb “as the devastation of Shalman.” The genitive noun שַׁלְמַן (shalman, “Shalman”) functions as a subjective genitive: “as Shalman devastated [Beth Arbel].”