Bible Strands
Hosea 5:1
“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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God summons the priests, the house of Israel, and the royal house to listen to a declared judgment. This address precedes the pronouncement that rebels will be chastised for their slaughter (Hosea 5:2).
The words — The Hebrew שִׁמְעוּ (shim.'u) issues a judicial "hear," directed at הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֜ים (ha./ko.ha.Nim, "priests") and framed by בֵּ֣ית (beit, "house of") for Israel and the king. The demonstrative זֹ֨את (zot, "this") anchors the coming judgment directly to their specific actions.
The thread — The snare and net imagery reappears in Hosea 9:8, where the fowler's snare covers all paths, and parallels the priestly ambush described in Hosea 6:9. The formal summons to leaders who pervert justice mirrors the address in Micah 3:9.
Why it lands — The text requires religious, national, and political authorities to acknowledge that their own conduct has manufactured the trap they now face. It demands the reader confront the principle that leadership carries direct liability for the consequences it enables.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Hosea 9:8 The prophet is Ephraim’s watchman, along with my God, yet the snare of the fowler lies on all his paths. Hostility is in the house of his God!
- Hosea 6:9 Like raiders who lie in ambush, so does a band of priests; they murder on the way to Shechem; surely they have committed atrocities.
- Micah 3:9 Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and pervert all that is right,
- Micah 7:2 The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.
- Habakkuk 1:15 The foe pulls all of them up with a hook; he catches them in his dragnet, and gathers them in his fishing net; so he rejoices gladly.
- Judges 4:6 She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the LORD, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, taking with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun.
- 1 Kings 21:18 “Get up and go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria. See, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession of it.
- 2 Chronicles 21:12 Then a letter came to Jehoram from Elijah the prophet, which stated: “This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘You have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah,
- Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land!
- Hosea 9:11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird, with no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.