Hosea 2:13

2:13 “I will punish her for the festival days

when she burned incense to the Baal idols; ¹ 

she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry,

and went after her lovers,

but ²  she forgot me!” ³  says the Lord.

Hosea 2:15

2:15 From there I will give back her vineyards to her,

and turn the “Valley of Trouble” ⁴  into an “Opportunity ⁵  for Hope.”

There she will sing as she did when she was young, ⁶ 

when ⁷  she came up from the land of Egypt.

Hosea 2:18

New Covenant Relationship with Repentant Israel

2:18 “At that time ⁸  I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals,

the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground.

I will abolish ⁹  the warrior’s bow and sword

– that is, every weapon of warfare ¹⁰  – from the land,

and I will allow them to live securely.” ¹¹ 

Hosea 2:23

2:23 Then I will plant her as my own ¹²  in the land.

I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah).

I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’

And he ¹³  will say, ‘You are ¹⁴  my God!’”

[2:13]  ¹ tn Heb “the days of the Baals, to whom she burned incense.” The word “festival” is supplied to clarify the referent of “days,” and the word “idols” is supplied in light of the plural “Baals” (cf. NLT “her images of Baal”).

[2:13]  ² tn The vav prefixed to a nonverb (וְאֹתִי, vé’oti) introduces a disjunctive contrastive clause, which is rhetorically powerful.

[2:13]  ³ tn The accusative direct object pronoun וְאֹתִי (vé’oti, “me”) is emphatic in the word order of this clause (cf. NIV “but me she forgot”), emphasizing the heinous inappropriateness of Israel’s departure from the Lord.

[2:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “Valley of Achor,” so named because of the unfortunate incident recorded in Josh 7:1-26 (the name is explained in v. 26; the Hebrew term Achor means “disaster” or “trouble”). Cf. TEV, CEV “Trouble Valley.”

[2:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “door” or “doorway”; cf. NLT “gateway.” Unlike the days of Joshua, when Achan’s sin jeopardized Israel’s mission and cast a dark shadow over the nation, Israel’s future return to the land will be marked by renewed hope.

[2:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “as in the days of her youth” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[2:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “as in the day when” (so KJV, NASB).

[2:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “And in that day” (so KJV, ASV).

[2:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “I will break”; NAB “I will destroy”; NCV “I will smash”; NLT “I will remove.”

[2:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “bow and sword and warfare.” The first two terms in the triad וְקֶשֶׁת וְחֶרֶב וּמִלְחָמָה (vÿqeshet vÿkherev umilkhamah, literally, “bow and sword and warfare”) are examples of synecdoche of specific (bow and sword) for general (weapons of war, so CEV). However, they might be examples of metonymy (bow and sword) of association (warfare).

[2:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and I will cause them to lie down in safety.” The causative nuance (“will make them”) is retained in several English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[2:23]  ¹² tn Heb “for myself.”

[2:23]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text, carrying out the reference to the son born in 1:8-9, uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here; some English translations use third person plural (“they,” so KJV, NASB, NIV, CEV) in keeping with the immediate context, which refers to reestablished Israel.

[2:23]  ¹⁴ tn The words “You are” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are implied. It is necessary to supply the phrase in the translation to prevent the reader from understanding the predicate “my God” as an exclamation (cf. NAB).