They shall bring to life new grain,
They shall blossom like the vine;
His scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.f
9Ephraim [shall say]:
“What more have I to do with idols?
When I respond and look to Him,
I become like a verdant cypress.”
a-
Your fruit is provided by Me.-a
10He who is wise will consider these words,
He who is prudent will take note of them.
For the paths of the LORD are smooth;
The righteous can walk on them,
While sinners stumble on them.
a-a Force of Heb. uncertain.
b Lit. “whore away.”
c Emendation yields “Israel”; cf. next note.
d-d See 1 Kings 21.1–24; 2 Kings 9.21–35. Emendation yields “the Baal days”; cf. 2.15.
e I.e., “Not-accepted”: cf. 2.3, 6, and 25.
f-f Meaning of Heb. uncertain; emendation yields “but will disown them”; cf. 9.15 and elsewhere.
g I.e., “Not-My-People.”
h I.e., you and your fellow countrymen.
i-i Cf. 2.25.
a Vv. 1–3 anticipate the conclusion of the chapter.
b See 1.9.
c Meaning, perhaps, “from their wretched condition,” or “to ascendancy over the land.”
d-d I.e., the day when the name Jezreel will convey a promise (2.23–25) instead of a threat (1.4-5).
e The Lord addresses Hosea and his fellow North Israelites; see 1.9. The mother is the nation; her children the individual North Israelites.
f Heb. “your.” Vv. 8–9 would read well after v. 15.
g I.e., her ravaged land (see vv. 5, 10–11, 14); so Ibn Ezra.
h A desolate region; cf. Isa. 65.10; see further Josh. 7.25–26.
i-i Connecting pethah with pittah “to plow” (see Isa. 28.24). Meaning of Heb. uncertain; others “door of hope.”
j Both Ishi and Baali mean “my husband,” but the latter also means “my Baal.”
k Lit. “break.”
l-l As the bride-price which the bridegroom will pay, He will confer these qualities on her, so that she will never offend again.
m I.e., “God sows.” The names of Hosea’s children (1.3–8) are applied here to Israel.
a-a For “befriend,” see Deut. 10.19. For God’s befriending Israel, see Hos. 2.10.
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain; emendation yields “ ‘to other gods.’ And so I befriended a woman of lust.”
c-c Septuagint reads “a jar of wine.”
d-d Lit. “for me.”
e Emendation yields “altar.”
a-a For failing to reprove; but meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b-b Emendation yields “your children”; cf. v. 6 end.
c Lit. “mother.”
d For this meaning of hiznah cf. v. 18.
e Cf. 12.7.
f Emendation yields “New grain”; cf. 7.14; 9.1–2.
g I.e., its phallus, meaning “its lust.”
h See note b at 1.2.
i Heb. “your,” here and through v. 14.
j-j Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
k Cf. vv. 11–12.
l One who participates in the debaucheries of the open-air shrines is not fit to visit a temple building.
m Lit. “House of Delusion,” substituted for Bethel (cf. Amos 4.4).
n I.e., you are not fit to profess His religion; see Jer. 12.16.
o Instead of giving them fodder in return for their work; cf. Isa. 30.23–24.
p Meaning of vv. 17–19 uncertain in part.
q-q Lit. “has bound up in the corners of its garment”; see note at Mal. 3.20.
a Emendation yields “prophets.”
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c-c This passage would read well after 5.15; cf. 5.6 with 6.6.
d-d Emendation yields “He has.”
e The three towns named, in the territory of Benjamin, are now being wrested from Israel by Judah; see v. 10.
f-f Emendation yields “Stir up.”
g I.e., the kingdoms of Judah and Israel (Ephraim).
h Cf. Targum and Septuagint; but meaning of Heb. uncertain.
i Emendation yields “Israel.”
j Compare the verb ryb in the sense of “to champion, uphold the cause of,” in Isa. 1.17; 3.13; 19.20 end; 51.22.
a As anticipated at the end of chapter 5, Israel seeks the Lord’s favor; His answer begins with v. 4.
b Taking yoreh as equivalent of yarweh.
c Emendation yields “Israel”; cf. “Ephraim…Israel” in v. 10.
d-d Emendation yields “your children”; cf. 9.13.
e-e Cf. v. 3; but meaning of Heb. uncertain.
f Meaning of vv. 7–11 unclear in part.
g Heb. “done”; cf. 5.1–3.
h-h Emendation yields “Beth-shean.”
i-i Cf. 5.9–10; but meaning of clause uncertain.
a Emendation yields “Me.”
b Vv. 3–6 would read well in the order 4, 6, 3, 5.
c-c Emendation yields “rage.”
d-d I.e., he trusted traitors; but meaning of verse uncertain.
e-e Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
f Like Akkadian shību; others “gray hairs.”
g This verse would read well after 8.2.
h-h I.e., in penitence; cf. Isa. 58.5.
i Cf. Aramaic gar/yegur “to commit adultery”; for the thought, cf. 4.11.
j Taking yasuru as equivalent to yasoru, from sarar; cf. 9.15 end.
k Cf. Arabic zaghūm and zughmūm “a stammerer.”
l I.e., the negotiations conducted in the Egyptian language.
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b-b Emendation yields “Israel.”
c See note g at 7.14.
d-d Emendation yields “They pursue delusion.”
e-e Emendation yields “I reject.”
f-f Emendation yields “understanding, / That House of Israel?”
g A play on words: The Heb. root bala‘, which means “bewildered” here (cf. Isa. 28.7), means “devour” in the preceding verse.
h-h Emendation yields “In Egypt they have.”
i-i Cf. 9.6; but meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a-a Emendation and rearrangement yield: “You have loved fornication / By every threshing floor and press; / The new grain shall not join them, / And the new wine shall fail them.”
b The lands of the heathen and the food there are unclean; cf. Ezek. 4.13; Amos 7.17.
c-c Emendation yields “to Assyria.”
d-d Cf. 8.10.
e Believed to be Memphis, elsewhere called Noph.
f-f Emendation yields “the prophet of my God.”
g See Judg. 19—20.
h-h Emendation yields “like a ripe fig in a waterless waste”; cf. 13.5.
i Cf. Num. 25.1–3.
j-j Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
k V. 16 would read well after v. 11.
l-l Emendation yields: “Even if they wean their babes, / They shall be dismayed because of them.”
m The specific allusion is uncertain.
n-n Emendation yields “They are all.”
o Targum reads “Their crown,” i.e., of a tree.
a Cf. 2 Sam. 18.14, where the word is rendered “thick growth.”
b-b Cf. Amos 6.12; lit. “breaks out like poison weeds.”
c See note m at 4.15.
d-d Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
e See note j at 5.13.
f Emendation yields “image,” referring to the calf.
g The Heb. verb agrees with this word, not with “Samaria.”
h See note at 9.9.
i-i Lit. “passed over the comeliness of its neck.”
j-j Taking rkb in the sense of the Arabic krb.
k Emendation yields “Israel.”
l-l Lit. “according to.”
m-m Meaning of Heb. uncertain; Septuagint reads “the fruits.”
n Septuagint reads “chariots.”
o Perhaps identical with the Shallum of 2 Kings 15.10 ff.; cf. the atrocities of Shallum’s rival, ibid., v. 16.
p-p Emendation yields “will I do to you, O House of Israel.”
q-q Meaning, perhaps, “swiftly as the dawn”; cf. v. 7 above, “like foam upon water.”
a Meaning of parts of vv. 2–7 uncertain.
b Emendation yields “calves”; cf. 8.4–6; 13.2.
c Heb. “bis.”
d Emendation yields “bodies,” lit. “skins”; cf. Job. 18.13.
e-e Emendation yields “their bones.”
f-f Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
g Admah and Zeboiim were destroyed with neighboring Sodom and Gomorrah; cf. Gen. 10.19; 14.2, 8; Deut. 29.22.
a I.e., the deceit and guile they practice on each other (below vv. 8–9) is constantly noted by the LORD.
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c Septuagint reads “futility.”
d I.e., they foolishly depend on alliances instead of on the LORD; cf. 5.13; 7.10–11.
e Presumably the patriarch Judah. Emendation would yield “Israel”; cf. next note.
f Cf. Gen. 25.26 and 32.29.
g Heb. “us.”
h I.e., one should not invoke any of the angelic hosts.
i I.e., securely; see 2 Kings 13.5.
j Lit. “fixed season.”
k I.e., the cults of Gilead and Gilgal are as worthless as that of Bethel.
l This is the punishment mentioned in 12.3.
m I.e., not through an angel.
n Meaning of 12.15—13.1 uncertain.
a I.e., Baal-peor; cf. 9.10.
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c-c Emendation yields “There dogs shall devour them”; cf. Septuagint.
d I.e., for future retribution.
e This verse would read well before 14.5.
f-f Lit. “Satisfaction (for this meaning of nhm see Deut. 32.36; Isa. 1.24) shall be hidden from My eyes.”
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b I.e., we will no longer depend on an alliance with Egypt; cf. 2 Kings 18.24 // Isa. 36.9; Isa. 30.16.
c For this meaning of meshubah see Jer. 2.19; 3.22.
d Heb. “him.”
e-e Emendation yields “poplar.”
f Emendation yields “Helbon”; cf. Ezek. 27.18.
Joel
1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel.
2Listen to this, O elders,
Give ear, all inhabitants of the land.
Has the like of this happened in your days
Or in the days of your fathers?
3Tell your children about it,
And let your children tell theirs,
And their children the next generation!
4What the cuttera has left, the locust has devoured;
What the locust has left, the grub has devoured;
And what the grub has left, the hopper has devoured.
5Wake up, you drunkards, and weep,
Wail, all you swillers of wine—
For the new wine that is b-denied you!-b
6For a nation has invaded my land,
Vast beyond counting,
With teeth like the teeth of a lion,
With the fangs of a lion’s breed.
7They have laid my vines waste
And splintered my fig trees:
They have stripped off their bark and thrown [it] away;
Their runners have turned white.
8Lament—like a maiden girt with sackcloth
For the husband of her youth!
9Offering and libation have ceased
From the House of the LORD;
The priests must mourn
Who minister to the LORD.
10The country is ravaged,
The ground must mourn;
For the new grain is ravaged,
The new wine is dried up,
The new oil has failed.
11Farmers are dismayed
And vine dressers wail
Over wheat and barley;
For the crops of the field are lost.
12The vine has dried up,
The fig tree withers,
Pomegranate, palm, and apple—
All the trees of the field are sear.
And joy has dried up
Among men.
13Gird yourselves and lament, O priests,
Wail, O ministers of the altar;
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
O ministers of my God.
For offering and libation are withheld
From the House of your God.
14Solemnize a fast,
Proclaim an assembly;
Gather the elders—all the inhabitants of the land—
In the House of the LORD your God,
And cry out to the LORD.
15Alas for the day!
For the day of the LORD is near;
It shall come like havoc from Shaddai.c
16For food is cut off
Before our very eyes,
And joy and gladness
From the House of our God.
17d-The seeds have shriveled
Under their clods.-d
The granaries are desolate,
Barns
