Isaiah 9:13

9:13 The people did not return to the one who struck them,

they did not seek reconciliation ¹  with the Lord who commands armies.

Isaiah 64:7

64:7 No one invokes ²  your name,

or makes an effort ³  to take hold of you.

For you have rejected us ⁴ 

and handed us over to our own sins. ⁵ 

Daniel 9:13

9:13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, so all this calamity has come on us. Still we have not tried to pacify ⁶  the LORD our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom ⁷  from your reliable moral standards. ⁸ 

Hosea 7:7

7:7 All of them are blazing like an oven;

they devour their rulers.

All of their kings fall –

and none of them call on me!

Hosea 7:13-16

Israel Has Turned Away from the Lord

7:13 Woe to them! For they have fled from me!

Destruction to them! For they have rebelled against me!

I want to deliver ⁹  them,

but they have lied to me.

7:14 They do not pray to me, ¹⁰ 

but howl in distress on their beds;

They slash themselves ¹¹  for grain and new wine,

but turn away from me.

7:15 Although I trained and strengthened them, ¹² 

they plot evil against me!

7:16 They turn to Baal; ¹³ 

they are like an unreliable bow.

Their leaders will fall by the sword

because their prayers to Baal ¹⁴  have made me angry.

So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt. ¹⁵ 

Amos 5:4-8

5:4 The Lord says this to the family ¹⁶  of Israel:

“Seek me ¹⁷  so you can live!

5:5 Do not seek Bethel! ¹⁸ 

Do not visit Gilgal!

Do not journey down ¹⁹  to Beer Sheba!

For the people of Gilgal ²⁰  will certainly be carried into exile; ²¹ 

and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.” ²² 

5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!

Otherwise he will break out ²³  like fire against Joseph’s ²⁴  family; ²⁵ 

the fire ²⁶  will consume

and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. ²⁷ 

5:7 The Israelites ²⁸  turn justice into bitterness; ²⁹ 

they throw what is fair and right ³⁰  to the ground. ³¹ 

5:8 (But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion;

he can turn the darkness into morning

and daylight ³²  into night.

He summons the water of the seas

and pours it out on the earth’s surface.

The Lord is his name!

[9:13]  ¹ tn This verse describes the people’s response to the judgment described in vv. 11-12. The perfects are understood as indicating simple past.

[64:7]  ² tn Or “calls out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “calls on.”

[64:7]  ³ tn Or “rouses himself”; NASB “arouses himself.”

[64:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “for you have hidden your face from us.”

[64:7]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and you caused us to melt in the hand of our sin.” The verb וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ (vattÿmugenu) is a Qal preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the root מוּג (mug, “melt”). However, elsewhere the Qal of this verb is intransitive. If the verbal root מוּג (mug) is retained here, the form should be emended to a Polel pattern (וַתְּמֹגְגֵנוּ, vattÿmogÿgenu). The translation assumes an emendation to וַתְּמַגְּנֵנוּ (vattÿmaggÿnenu, “and you handed us over”). This form is a Piel preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the verbal root מִגֵּן (miggen, “hand over, surrender”; see HALOT 545 s.v. מגן and BDB 171 s.v. מָגָן). The point is that God has abandoned them to their sinful ways and no longer seeks reconciliation.

[9:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “we have not pacified the face of.”

[9:13]  ⁷ tn Or “by gaining insight.”

[9:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “by your truth.” The Hebrew term does not refer here to abstract truth, however, but to the reliable moral guidance found in the covenant law. See vv 10-11.

[7:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “redeem” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV, TEV “save”; CEV “I would have rescued them.”

[7:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they do not cry out to me in their heart”; NLT “with sincere hearts.”

[7:14]  ¹¹ tc The MT reads יִתְגּוֹרָרוּ (yitgoraru) which is either (1) Hitpolel imperfect 3rd person masculine plural (“they assemble themselves”; so KJV, NASB) from I גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn”; BDB 157 s.v. I גּוּר) or (2) Hitpolel imperfect 3rd person masculine plural (“they excite themselves”) from II גּוּר (gur, “to stir up”; BDB 158 s.v. II גּוּר). However, the Hebrew lexicographers suggest that both of these options are unlikely. Several other Hebrew mss preserve an alternate textual tradition of יִתְגּוֹדָדוּ (yitgodadu) which is a Hitpolel imperfect 3rd person common plural (“they slash themselves”) from גָּדַד (gadad, “to cut”; BDB 151 s.v. גָּדַד), as also reflected in the LXX (cf. NAB “they lacerated themselves”; NRSV, TEV “gash themselves”; NLT “cut themselves.” This reflects the pagan Canaanite cultic practice of priests cutting themselves and draining their blood on the ground to elicit agricultural fertility by resurrecting the slain fertility god Baal from the underworld (Deut 14:1; 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5). Cf. CEV which adds “in the hope that Baal will bless their crops.”

[7:15]  ¹² tn Heb “their arms” (so NAB, NRSV).

[7:16]  ¹³ tc The MT reads the enigmatic יָשׁוּבוּ לֹא עָל (yashuvu lo’ ’al) which is taken variously: “they turn, but not upward” (NASB); “they do not turn to the Most High” (NIV); “they return, but not to the most High” (KJV). The BHS editors suggest יָשׁוּבוּ לַבַּעַל (yashuvu labba’al, “they turn to Baal”; so RSV) or יָשׁוּבוּ לַבְּלִיַּעַל (yashuvu labbÿliyya’al, “they turn to Belial”) which is reflected by the LXX.

[7:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “because their tongue.” The term “tongue” is used figuratively, as a metonymy of cause (tongue) for the effect (prayers to Baal).

[7:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “this [will] be for scorn in the land of Egypt”; NIV “they will be ridiculed (NAB shall be mocked) in the land of Egypt.”

[5:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[5:4]  ¹⁷ sn The following verses explain what it meant to seek the Lord. Israel was to abandon the mere formalism and distorted view of God and reality that characterized religious activity at the worship sites, as well as the social injustice that permeated Israelite society. Instead the people were to repent and promote justice in the land. This call to seek the Lord echoes the challenge in 4:13 to prepare to meet him as he truly is.

[5:5]  ¹⁸ sn Ironically, Israel was to seek after the Lord, but not at Bethel (the name Bethel means “the house of God” in Hebrew).

[5:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “cross over.”

[5:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “For Gilgal.” By metonymy the place name “Gilgal” is used instead of referring directly to the inhabitants. The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:5]  ²¹ tn In the Hebrew text the statement is emphasized by sound play. The name “Gilgal” sounds like the verb גָּלָה (galah, “to go into exile”), which occurs here in the infinitival + finite verb construction (גָּלֹה יִגְלֶה, galoh yigleh). The repetition of the “ג” (g) and “ל” (l) sounds draws attention to the announcement and suggests that Gilgal’s destiny is inherent in its very name.

[5:5]  ²² tn Heb “disaster,” or “nothing”; NIV “Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”

[5:6]  ²³ tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.

[5:6]  ²⁴ sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[5:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[5:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:6]  ²⁷ 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.”

[5:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Those who”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity. In light of vv. 11-13, it is also possible that the words are directed at a more limited group within the nation – those with social and economic power.

[5:7]  ²⁹ tn There is an interesting wordplay here with the verb הָפַךְ (hafakh, “overturn, turn”). Israel “turns” justice into wormwood (cf. 6:12), while the Lord “turns” darkness into morning (v. 8; cf. 4:11; 8:10). Israel’s turning is for evil, whereas the Lord’s is to demonstrate his absolute power and sovereignty.

[5:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “they throw righteousness.”

[5:7]  ³¹ sn In v. 7 the prophet begins to describe the guilty Israelites, but then interrupts his word picture with a parenthetical, but powerful, description of the judge they must face (vv. 8-9). He resumes his description of the sinners in v. 10.

[5:8]  ³² tn Heb “darkens the day into night.”