6:10
Can I forget any longer, O house of the wicked, the treasures of wickedness and the short ephah, which is accursed?: This verse is a rhetorical question. Its function is to express two accusations of the LORD against the people. It is not a request for information.
Here are some ways to translate this rhetorical question:
• As one or more rhetorical questions. You may use slightly different questions if that is more natural in your language. For example:
…can I forgive the false measure, the accursed short bushel? (Revised English Bible)
-or-
How can I forget dishonest gain by wicked people? How can I ignore the fraudulent scales that I hate so much?
• As a statement. For example:
You store up stolen treasures and use dishonest scales. (Contemporary English Version)
6:10a
Can I forget any longer: There is a textual issue with the word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as forget. There are three main options:
(1) Some scholars think that the original word was “forget/overlook.” For example:
Can I overlook the false measure (New Jerusalem Bible)
(2) The Masoretic Text has “there is/are.” For example:
In the houses of evil people are treasures (Good News Translation)
(3) Some scholars say that the original word was “forgive/bear.” For example:
Am I to bear any longer criminal hoarding (New American Bible)
(New American Bible)
It is recommended that you follow option (1) along with a slight majority of versions. However, option (2) and (3) are also acceptable. All have support from scholars and fit the context well.
O house of the wicked: There are two main interpretations of the referent of the word house :
(1) It refers to a literal house where wicked people store their stolen treasures. For example:
In the houses of evil people are treasures which they got dishonestly. (Good News Translation)
(2) It refers to the wicked people. For example:
O wicked house (New International Version)
Some versions, such as the New Revised Standard Version, are ambiguous.
You may follow either interpretation. The word house can refer to either a building or to a group of people.
the treasures of wickedness: This phrase probably refers to wealth or luxuries that people obtained by wicked means. It does not specify the kind of wickedness. The following context suggests that it refers to cheating, dishonesty, violence, deceit, and lying.
6:10b
and the short ephah: In Hebrew, this phrase is more literally “and an ephah of scantness.” The standard dry measure of that time was the ephah. An ephah of scantness was a container that held less than an ephah of grain or other product. Some merchants cheated their customers by saying that the container held a full ephah.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
the smaller-than-standard measure (NET Bible)
-or-
They use false measures (Good News Translation)
-or-
they cheat their customers by giving them less than they have paid for
which is accursed: In this context, the word accursed probably means that this kind of cheating was a violation of the law of Moses and was detestable to God. See Leviticus 19:35–36.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
I hate so much (NET Bible)
-or-
a thing that I hate (Good News Translation)
-or-
that abomination (New Jerusalem Bible)
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