"Listen to this, you priests! Listen, house of Israel, And give ear, house of the king! For the judgment is against you; For you have been a snare at Mizpah, And a net spread on Tabor.
Some again take מצפה, metsephe, for a beacon, and thus translate, “Ye have been a snare instead of a beacon.” But this mistake is refuted by the second clause, for the Prophet adds immediately, a net expanded over Tabor: and it is well known that Mizpah and Tabor were high mountains, and for their height celebrated and renowned; we also know that hunting was common on these mountains. The Prophet, then, no doubt means here, that both the priests and the king’s counselors were like snares and nets: “As fowlers and hunters were wont to spread their nets and snares on mount Mizpah and on Tabor; so the people also have been ensnared by you.” This is the plain meaning of the words. Some conjecture, that robbers were there located by the kings of Israel to intercept the Israelites, when they found any ascending into Jerusalem, as we now see everywhere persons lying in wait, that no one from the Papacy may come over to us. But this conjecture is too far fetched. I have already explained the Prophet’s meaning: he makes use, as we have said, of a similitude. 