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 14:8

14:8 O Ephraim, I do not want to have anything to do ⁵  with idols anymore!

I will answer him and care for him.

I am like ⁶  a luxuriant cypress tree; ⁷ 

your fruitfulness comes from me! ⁸ 

[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.”

[14:8]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew expression מַה־לִּי עוֹד (mah-li ’od) is a formula of repudiation/emphatic denial that God has anything in common with idols: “I want to have nothing to do with […] any more!” Cf., e.g., Judg 11:12; 2 Sam 16:10; 19:23; 1 Kgs 17:18; 2 Kgs 3:13; 2 Chr 35:21; Jer 2:18; Ps 50:16; BDB 553 s.v. מָה 1.d.(c).

[14:8]  ⁶ tn The term “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity, as in the majority of English versions (including KJV).

[14:8]  ⁷ tn Cf. KJV “a green fir tree”; NIV, NCV “a green pine tree”; NRSV “an evergreen cypress.”

[14:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “your fruit is found in me”; NRSV “your faithfulness comes from me.”