Boged (בּוֹגֵד) Is the Hebrew Word for a Covenant-Breaker
What does Isaiah mean when he calls Israel "faithless"?
"The faithless have acted faithlessly." — Isaiah 24:16, ESV— Isaiah 24:16
In Isaiah 24:16, the prophet repeats a single devastating word three times: boged (בּוֹגֵד). English translations render it "faithless" or "treacherous," but the Hebrew carries a sharper legal weight.
A boged is not someone who is ignorant of the covenant. It is someone who knows the terms — and violates them deliberately. In the ancient Near East, a covenant was a binding agreement between two parties. To act as a boged was to be a traitor to a solemn commitment, not merely careless or forgetful.
The word appears in Proverbs 11:3 ("the treacherous are destroyed by their duplicity"), Jeremiah 3:8 ("faithless Israel"), and Malachi 2:14 (where unfaithfulness in marriage is described using the same boged framework).
Isaiah's triple repetition was not poetic — it was prophetic urgency. The nation had entered into covenant with God, received His law, witnessed His miracles — and then acted as if none of it applied to them.
Why It Matters
Wherever we know what God has said — about love, generosity, integrity, or faithfulness — and consistently act otherwise, we are functioning as a boged. Naming it honestly is the first step toward repentance and restored covenant power.
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