—declares the LORD.
12
Ephraim surrounds Me with deceit,
The House of Israel with guile.a
b-
(But Judah stands firm with God
And is faithful to the Holy One.)-b
2Ephraim tends the wind
And pursues the gale;
He is forever adding
Illusion to calamity.c
Now they make a covenant with Assyria,
Now oil is carried to Egypt.d
3The LORD once indicted Judah,e
And punished Jacob for his conduct,
Requited him for his deeds.
4In the womb he tried to supplant his brother;
Grown to manhood, he strove with a divine being,f
5He strove with an angel and prevailed—
The other had to weep and implore him.
At Bethel [Jacob] would meet him,
There to commune with him.g
6Yet the LORD, the God of Hosts,
Must be invoked as “LORD.”h
7You must return to your God!
Practice goodness and justice,
And constantly trust in your God.
8A trader who uses false balances,
Who loves to overreach,
9Ephraim thinks,
“Ah, I have become rich;
I have gotten power!
b-
All my gains do not amount
To an offense which is real guilt.”-b
10I the LORD have been your God
Ever since the land of Egypt.
I will let you dwell in your tentsi again
As in the days of old,j
11When I spoke to the prophets;
For I granted many visions,
b-
And spoke parables through the prophets.
12As for Gilead, it is worthless;
And to no purpose-b have they
Been sacrificing oxen in Gilgal:
The altars of these are also
Like stone heaps upon a plowed field.k
13Then Jacob had to fleel to the land of Aram;
There Israel served for a wife,
For a wife he had to guard [sheep].
14But when the LORD
Brought Israel up from Egypt,
It was through a prophet;m
Through a prophetmthey were guarded.
15nEphraim gave bitter offense,
And his Lord cast his crimes upon him
And requited him for his mockery.
13
When Ephraim spoke piety,
He was exalted in Israel;
But he incurred guilt through Baal,a
And so he died.
2And now they go on sinning;
They have made them molten images,
Idols, by their skill, from their silver,
Wholly the work of craftsmen.
b-
Yet for these they appoint men to sacrifice;-b
They are wont to kiss calves!
3Assuredly,
They shall be like morning clouds,
Like dew so early gone;
Like chaff whirled away from the threshing floor.
And like smoke from a lattice.
4Only I the LORD have been your God
Ever since the land of Egypt;
You have never known a [true] God but Me,
You have never had a helper other than Me.
5I looked after you in the desert,
In a thirsty land.
6When they grazed, they were sated;
When they were sated, they grew haughty;
And so they forgot Me.
7So I am become like a lion to them,
Like a leopard I lurk on the way;
8Like a bear robbed of her young I attack them
And rip open the casing of their hearts;
c-
I will devour them there like a lion,-c
The beasts of the field shall mangle them.
9b-You are undone, O Israel!
You had no help but Me.-b
10Where now is your king?
Let him save you!
Where are the chieftains in all your towns
Whom you demanded:
“Give me a king and officers”?
11I give you kings in my ire,
And take them away in My wrath.
12Ephraim’s guilt is bound up,
His sin is stored away.d
13Pangs of childbirth assail him,
b-
And the babe is not wise—
For this is no time to survive
At the birthstool of babes.-b
14eFrom Sheol itself I will save them,
Redeem them from very Death.
Where, O Death, are your plagues?
Your pestilence where, O Sheol?
f-
Revenge shall be far from My thoughts.-f
15For though he flourish among reeds,
A blast, a wind of the LORD,
Shall come blowing up from the wilderness;
His fountain shall be parched,
His spring dried up.
That [wind] shall plunder treasures,
14
Every lovely object.
Samaria must bear her guilt,
For she has defied her God.
They shall fall by the sword,
Their infants shall be dashed to death,
And their women with child ripped open.
2Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
For you have fallen because of your sin.
3Take words with you
And return to the LORD.
Say to Him:
a-
“Forgive all guilt
And accept what is good;
Instead of bulls we will pay
[The offering of] our lips.-a
4Assyria shall not save us,
No more will we ride on steeds;b
Nor ever again will we call
Our handiwork our god,
Since in You alone orphans find pity!”
5I will heal their affliction,c
Generously will I take them back in love;
For My anger has turned away from them.d
6I will be to Israel like dew;
He shall blossom like the lily,
He shall strike root like a e-Lebanon tree.-e
7His boughs shall spread out far,
His beauty shall be like the olive tree’s,
His fragrance like that of Lebanon.
8They who sit in his shade shall be revived:
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
