3:14 “Certainly when 1 I punish Israel for their 2 covenant transgressions, 3
I will destroy 4 Bethel’s 5 altars.
The horns 6 of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.
5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!
Otherwise he will break out 7 like fire against Joseph’s 8 family; 9
the fire 10 will consume
and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. 11
1 tn Heb “in the day.”
2 tn Heb “his.” With the referent “Israel” here, this amounts to a collective singular.
3 tn Traditionally, “transgressions, sins,” but see the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3.
4 tn Heb “punish” (so NASB, NRSV).
5 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
6 sn The horns of an ancient altar projected upwards from the four corners and resembled an animal’s horns in appearance. Fugitives could seek asylum by grabbing hold of these corners (see Exod 21:14; 1 Kgs 1:50; 2:28). When the altar’s horns were cut off, there would be no place of asylum left for the
7 tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.
8 sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.
9 tn Heb “house.”
10 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Heb “to/for Bethel.” The translation assumes that the preposition indicates advantage, “on behalf of.” Another option is to take the preposition as vocative, “O Bethel.”