The Meaning of Hosea 5:1 Explained

Hosea 5:1

KJV: 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.

YLT: Hear this, O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, And, O house of the king, give ear, For the judgment is for you, For, a snare ye have been on Mizpah, And a net spread out on Tabor.

Darby: Hear this, ye priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ear, O house of the king: for this judgment is for you; for ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

ASV: Hear this, O ye priests, and hearken, O house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king; for unto you pertaineth the judgment; for ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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. 

What does Hosea 5:1 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Hosea called on the Israelite priests, the whole population of Israel, and the royal household to hear this message from Yahweh (cf. Hosea 4:1). The following word of judgment applied to all of them because they had been as a snare to birds in the Northern Kingdom. Their policies and practices had trapped many people in idolatry and its consequent bondage and destruction. There was an Israelite Mizpah in Gilead ( Judges 10:17; Judges 11:29) and one in the territory of Benjamin ( 1 Samuel 7:5; 1 Samuel 10:1). Mt. Tabor stood in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel. Probably these hunting sites represent the whole nation (by merism), from north to south or east to west. These may also have been the locations of important worship sites in the North. [1] The point is that the leadership was corrupting the people everywhere.

Context Summary

Hosea 5:1-15 - God's Rebuke Of Apostasy
The prophet continues his grave indictment of his people. The court and the priesthood were chiefly responsible for the awful degeneracy that was eating out the national heart. The seductions of idolatry that abounded everywhere resembled the snares and nets set by hunters on the wooded heights of Gilead and Tabor.
Suddenly, within a month, Hosea 5:7, an alarm sounds from hill to hill. The foreign invader has entered the country and is slowly marching southward. Even Benjamin is threatened. Ephraim must suffer because of the institutions of Omri and Ahab, Hosea 5:11; and Judah, because her princes were grasping and fraudulent. Though message after message was sent to procure the help of Jareb-a symbolical name for Assyria, "the warlike," he would not be able to avert the approaching dissolution of the Jewish state. You cannot stop the dry-rot by grand alliances. Nothing can save a nation in whose heart the worst forms of corruption are being nourished, except a wholesale return of God and a seeking of His face. It is certain that if this lesson were profoundly learned and then practiced, the horrors of a world in arms would come to a speedy and a blessed end. [source]

Chapter Summary: Hosea 5

1  The judgments of God are denounced against the priests, people, and princes,
9  both of Israel and Judah, for their manifold sins
15  An intimation is given of mercy on their repentance

What do the individual words in Hosea 5:1 mean?

Hear this priests and take heed house of Israel and house of the king Give ear for yours [is] the judgment because a snare you have been to Mizpah and a net spread on Tabor
שִׁמְעוּ־ זֹ֨את הַכֹּהֲנִ֜ים וְהַקְשִׁ֣יבוּ ׀ בֵּ֣ית יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל וּבֵ֤ית הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙ הַאֲזִ֔ינוּ כִּ֥י לָכֶ֖ם הַמִּשְׁפָּ֑ט כִּֽי־ פַח֙ הֱיִיתֶ֣ם לְמִצְפָּ֔ה וְרֶ֖שֶׁת פְּרוּשָׂ֥ה עַל־ תָּבֽוֹר

שִׁמְעוּ־  Hear 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: שָׁמַע 
Sense: to hear, listen to, obey.
זֹ֨את  this 
Parse: Pronoun, feminine singular
Root: זׄאת  
Sense: this, this one, here, which, this … that, the one … the other, such.
הַכֹּהֲנִ֜ים  priests 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine plural
Root: כֹּהֵן  
Sense: priest, principal officer or chief ruler.
וְהַקְשִׁ֣יבוּ ׀  and  take  heed 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: קָשַׁב  
Sense: to hear, be attentive, heed, incline (of ears), attend (of ears), hearken, pay attention, listen.
בֵּ֣ית  house 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: בַּיִת 
Sense: house.
יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל  of  Israel 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יִשְׂרָאֵל  
Sense: the second name for Jacob given to him by God after his wrestling with the angel at Peniel.
וּבֵ֤ית  and  house 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: בַּיִת 
Sense: house.
הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙  of  the  king 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: מֶלֶךְ 
Sense: king.
הַאֲזִ֔ינוּ  Give  ear 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: אָזַן  
Sense: to hear, listen.
לָכֶ֖ם  yours  [is] 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine plural
הַמִּשְׁפָּ֑ט  the  judgment 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: מִשְׁפָּט  
Sense: judgment, justice, ordinance.
כִּֽי־  because 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: כִּי 
Sense: that, for, because, when, as though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since.
פַח֙  a  snare 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: פַּח 
Sense: bird trap, trap, snare.
הֱיִיתֶ֣ם  you  have  been 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, second person masculine plural
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
לְמִצְפָּ֔ה  to  Mizpah 
Parse: Preposition-l, Proper Noun, feminine singular
Root: מִצְפָּה  
Sense: a place in Gilead north of Jabbok and location of Laban’s cairn.
וְרֶ֖שֶׁת  and  a  net 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: רֶשֶׁת  
Sense: net.
פְּרוּשָׂ֥ה  spread 
Parse: Verb, Qal, QalPassParticiple, feminine singular
Root: פָּרַשׂ  
Sense: to spread, spread out, stretch, break in pieces.
תָּבֽוֹר  Tabor 
Parse: Proper Noun, feminine singular
Root: תָּבֹור  
Sense: a mountain in the plain of Esdraelon rising abruptly and insulated except for a narrow ridge on the west connecting it to the hills of Nazareth.