Translation
And I heard the angel of the waters
saying, “You who are, and
have always been, the HOLY ONE, you are just
because you have judged these,
Go to footnote numberParaphrase
And I heard God’s agent responsible for granting or allowing the accumulation of material abundance saying, “You who are, and have always been, You, the HOLY ONE, you have been proven to be just by the way you have judged all these things and all these people,
Footnotes
1
Who or what was judged? The pronoun used here is neuter, while the pronoun used in verse 6 is masculine. However, in verse 4 the “rivers and springs of water” are being judged, and a neuter pronoun is a good way to refer to them since “rivers” are masculine, “springs” are feminine, and “waters” a neuter. The reason why God’s judgment is right is given in verse 6 where the recipients are people described with a pronoun that is masculine. The neuter pronoun in verse 5 seems to refer at least to the things of verse 4 and possibly also to the people of verse 6. I think the best explanation is that God has judged all those things and those people and in all those cases He has been proved right and just. I think this last phrase of verse 5, “you have judged these” refers to those things from verse 4 and also to the people of verse 6.