5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!
Otherwise he will break out 1 like fire against Joseph’s 2 family; 3
the fire 4 will consume
and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. 5
9:8 Look, the sovereign Lord is watching 6 the sinful nation, 7
and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.
But I will not completely destroy the family 8 of Jacob,” says the Lord.
1 tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.
2 sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.
3 tn Heb “house.”
4 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
5 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.”
6 tn Heb “the eyes of the sovereign
7 tn Or “kingdom.”
8 tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).