Osee 5:1
Hear ye this, O priests, and hearken, O ye house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king: for there is a judgment against you, because you have been a snare to them whom you should have watched over, and a net spread upon Thabor.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Audite hoc, sacerdotes, et attendite, domus Israël, et domus regis, auscultate : quia vobis judicium est, quoniam laqueus facti estis speculationi, et rete expansum super Thabor.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Ἀκούσατε ταῦτα, οἱ ἱερεῖς, καὶ προσέχετε, οἶκος Ἰσραήλ, καὶ ὁ οἶκος τοῦ βασιλέως, ἐνωτίζεσθε, διότι πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐστιν τὸ κρίμα· ὅτι παγὶς ἐγενήθητε τῇ σκοπιᾷ, καὶ ὡς δίκτυον ἐκτεταμένον ἐπὶ τὸ Ἰταβύριον,
- Hebrew (WLC)
- שִׁמְעוּ זֹ֨את הַכֹּהֲנִ֜ים וְהַקְשִׁ֣יבוּ בֵּ֣ית יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל וּבֵ֤ית הַמֶּ֨לֶךְ֙ הַאֲזִ֔ינוּ כִּ֥י לָכֶ֖ם הַמִּשְׁפָּ֑ט כִּֽי פַח֙ הֱיִיתֶ֣ם לְמִצְפָּ֔ה וְרֶ֖שֶׁת פְּרוּשָׂ֥ה עַל תָּבֽוֹר
Haydock's commentary
Of priests. What is said of priests in this prophecy is chiefly understood of the priests of the kingdom of Israel; who were not true priests of the race of Aaron, but served the calves at Bethel and Dan. (Challoner)
They had the name of priests, and pretended to act as such, 3 Kings xii. (Worthington)
There were some apostates among them, chap. iv. 6. But they lost all authority.
To them. Literally, "to the watch:" speculationi. Hebew, "at Maspha," (Haydock) in Galaad, where a profane altar was erected, chap. vi. 8. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Ignatius of Antioch Epistle to the Trallians: Shorter and, Chapter VII. The same continued
Be on your guard, therefore, against such persons, that ye admit not of a snare for your own souls. And act so that your life shall be without offence to all men, lest ye become as “a snare upon a watch-tower, and as a net which is spread out.” For “he that does not heal himself in his own works, is the brother of him that destroys himself.” If, therefore, ye also put away conceit, arrogance, disdain, and haughtiness, it will be your privilege to be inseparably united to God, for “He is nigh unto those that fear Him.” And says He, “Upon whom will I look, but upon him that is humble and quiet, and that trembles at my words?” And do ye also reverence your bishop as Christ Himself, according as the blessed apostles have enjoined you. …
St Gregory Nazianzen In Defence of His Flight to Pontus, and His Return, After His Ordination to the Priesthood, with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office
57. Is the undertaking then so serious and laborious to a sensitive and sad heart, a very rottenness to the bones of a sensible man: while the danger is slight, and a fall not worth consideration? Nay the blessed Hosea inspires me with serious alarm, where he says that to us priests and rulers pertaineth the judgment, because we have been a snare to the watchtower; and as a net spread upon Tabor, which has been firmly fixed by the hunters of men’s souls, and he threatens to cut off the wicked prophets, and devour their judges with fire, and to cease for a while from anointing a king and princes, because they ruled for themselves, and not by Him.
St Gregory the Great The Book of Pastoral Rule, That none should enter on a place of government who practise not in life what they have learnt by study
There are some also who investigate spiritual precepts with cunning care, but what they penetrate with their understanding they trample on in their lives: all at once they teach the things which not by practice but by study they have learnt; and what in words they preach by their manners they impugn. Whence it comes to pass that when the shepherd walks through steep places, the flock follows to the precipice. Hence it is that the Lord through the prophet complains of the contemptible knowledge of shepherds, saying, When ye yourselves had drunk most pure water, ye fouled the residue with your feet; and My sheep fed on that which had been trodden by your feet, and drank that which your feet had fouled ( Ezek. xxxiv. 18, 19 ). For indeed the shepherds drink most pure water, when with a right understanding they imbibe the streams of truth. …