4:4 “Go to Bethel 1 and rebel! 2
At Gilgal 3 rebel some more!
Bring your sacrifices in 4 the morning,
your tithes on 5 the third day!
4:5 Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast! 6
Make a public display of your voluntary offerings! 7
For you love to do this, you Israelites.”
The sovereign Lord is speaking!
50:14 Present to God a thank-offering!
Repay your vows to the sovereign One! 17
50:23 Whoever presents a thank-offering honors me. 18
To whoever obeys my commands, I will reveal my power to deliver.” 19
107:21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people! 20
107:22 Let them present thank offerings,
and loudly proclaim what he has done! 21
116:17 I will present a thank offering to you,
and call on the name of the Lord.
1 sn Bethel and Gilgal were important formal worship centers because of their importance in Israel’s history. Here the Lord ironically urges the people to visit these places so they can increase their sin against him. Their formal worship, because it was not accompanied by social justice, only made them more guilty in God’s sight by adding hypocrisy to their list of sins. Obviously, theirs was a twisted view of the Lord. They worshiped a god of their own creation in order to satisfy their religious impulses (see 4:5: “For you love to do this”). Note that none of the rituals listed in 4:4-5 have to do with sin.
2 tn The Hebrew word translated “rebel” (also in the following line) could very well refer here to Israel’s violations of their covenant with God (see also the term “crimes” in 1:3 [with note] and the phrase “covenant transgressions” in 2:4 [with note]; 3:14).
3 sn See the note on Bethel earlier in this verse.
4 tn Or “for.”
5 tn Or “for.”
6 sn For the background of the thank offering of bread made with yeast, see Lev 7:13.
7 tn Heb “proclaim voluntary offerings, announce.”
8 tn Or “for a thank offering.”
9 tn See the notes on Lev 2:4.
10 tn See the note on Lev 6:21 [6:14 HT].
11 tn Heb “choice wheat flour well soaked ring-shaped loaves.” See the note on Lev 2:1.
12 tn The rendering “this [grain] offering” is more literally “his offering,” but it refers to the series of grain offerings listed just previously in v. 12.
13 tn The words “which regularly accompany” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarity.
14 tn Here the Hebrew text reads “offering” (קָרְבָּן, qorbban), not “grain offering” (מִנְחָה, minkhah), but in this context the term refers once again to the list in 7:12.
15 tn The term rendered “contribution offering” is תְּרוּמָה (tÿrumah), which generally refers to that which is set aside from the offerings to the
16 tn In the verse “his” refers to the offerer.
17 tn Heb “Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Pss 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 21:7; 47:2.
18 sn The reference to a thank-offering recalls the earlier statement made in v. 14. Gratitude characterizes genuine worship.
19 tn Heb “and [to one who] sets a way I will show the deliverance of God.” Elsewhere the phrase “set a way” simply means “to travel” (see Gen 30:36; cf. NRSV). The present translation assumes an emendation of וְשָׂם דֶּרֶךְ (vÿsam derekh) to וְשֹׁמֵר דְּרָכַּי (vÿshomer dÿrakhay, “and [the one who] keeps my ways” [i.e., commands, see Pss 18:21; 37:34). Another option is to read וְשֹׁמֵר דַּרְכּוֹ (vÿshomer darko, “and [the one who] guards his way,” i.e., “the one who is careful to follow a godly lifestyle”; see Ps 39:1).
20 tn Heb “and [for] his amazing deeds for the sons of man.” See v. 8.
21 tn Heb “and let them proclaim his works with a ringing cry.”