Hosea 4:6

4:6 You have destroyed ¹  my people

by failing to acknowledge me!

Because you refuse to acknowledge me, ² 

I will reject you as my priests.

Because you reject ³  the law of your God,

I will reject ⁴  your descendants.

Hosea 10:8

10:8 The high places of the “House ⁵  of Wickedness” ⁶  will be destroyed;

it is the place where Israel sins.

Thorns and thistles will grow up over its altars.

Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”

and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

[4:6]  ¹ tn Heb “they have destroyed” or “my people are destroyed” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[4:6]  ² tn Heb “Because you reject knowledge”; NLT “because they don’t know me.”

[4:6]  ³ tn Heb “have forgotten”; NAB, NIV “have ignored.”

[4:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “forget” (so KJV, NRSV); NLT “forget to bless.”

[10:8]  ⁵ tn Alternately, “Aven” (KJV, NAB, NRSV, NLT) for the city name “Beth Aven.” The term “Beth” (house) does not appear in the Hebrew text here, but is implied (e.g., Hos 4:15). It is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[10:8]  ⁶ tc The MT reads בָּמוֹת אָוֶן (bamot ’aven, “high places of Aven”); however, several Hebrew mss read בָּמוֹת בֵּית אָוֶן (bamot bet ’aven, “high places of Beth Aven”). In Hos 4:15 the name בֵּית אָוֶן (“Beth Aven”; Heb “house of wickedness”) is a wordplay on “Bethel” (Heb “house of God”). It is possible that בָּמוֹת בֵּית אָוֶן (“high places of Beth Aven”) was original: בֵּית (bet, “house”) dropped out as an unintentional scribal error by haplography due to presence of the consonants בת in the preceding word במות (bamot, “high places”).

[10:8]  tn Heb “high places of wickedness” (בָּמוֹת אָוֶן, bamot ’aven); so NIV. The noun אָוֶן (“wickedness”) is an attributive genitive: “wicked high places.”