Hosea 9:14

9:14 Give them, O Lord –

what will you give them?

Give them wombs that miscarry,

and breasts that cannot nurse! ¹ 

Hosea 12:5

12:5 As for the Lord God Almighty,

the Lord is the name by which he is remembered! ² 

Hosea 2:8

Agricultural Fertility Withdrawn from Israel

2:8 Yet ³  until now ⁴  she has refused to acknowledge ⁵  that I ⁶  was the one

who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;

and that it was I who ⁷  lavished on her the silver and gold –

which they ⁸  used in worshiping Baal! ⁹ 

Hosea 11:11

11:11 They will return in fear and trembling ¹⁰ 

like birds from Egypt,

like doves from Assyria,

and I will settle them in their homes,” declares the Lord.

Hosea 14:2

14:2 Return to the Lord and repent! ¹¹ 

Say to him: “Completely ¹²  forgive our iniquity;

accept ¹³  our penitential prayer, ¹⁴ 

that we may offer the praise of our lips as sacrificial bulls. ¹⁵ 

Hosea 2:15

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

and turn the “Valley of Trouble” ¹⁶  into an “Opportunity ¹⁷  for Hope.”

There she will sing as she did when she was young, ¹⁸ 

when ¹⁹  she came up from the land of Egypt.

[9:14]  ¹ tn Heb “breasts that shrivel up dry”; cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV “dry breasts.”

[12:5]  ² tn Heb “[is] his memorial name” (so ASV); TEV “the name by which he is to be worshipped.”

[2:8]  ³ tn Or “For” (so KJV, NASB); or “But” (so NCV).

[2:8]  ⁴ tn The phrase “until now” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[2:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “she does not know” (so NASB, NCV); or “she does not acknowledge.”

[2:8]  ⁶ tn The 1st person common singular independent personal pronoun אָנֹכִי (’anokhi, “I”) is emphatic, since the subject of this verbal clause is already explicit in the verb נָתַתִּי (natatti, Qal perfect 1st person common singular: “I gave”).

[2:8]  ⁷ tn The phrase “that it was I who” does not appear in the Hebrew text here, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[2:8]  ⁸ sn The third person plural here is an obvious reference to the Israelites who had been unfaithful to the Lord in spite of all that he had done for them. To maintain the imagery of Israel as the prostitute, a third person feminine singular would be called for; in the interest of literary consistency this has been supplied in some English translations (e.g., NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[2:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “for Baal” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); cf. TEV “in the worship of Baal.”

[11:11]  ¹⁰ tn For the meaning of חָרַד (harad, “to tremble”) with prepositions of direction, see 11:10 above.

[14:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Take words with you and return to the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:2]  ¹² tn The word order כָּל־תִּשָּׂא עָוֹן (kol-tisa’ ’avon) is syntactically awkward. The BHS editors suggest rearranging the word order: תִּשָּׂא כָּל־עוֹן (“Forgive all [our] iniquity!”). However, Gesenius suggests that כָּל (“all”) does not function as the construct in the genitive phrase כָּל־עוֹן (“all [our] iniquity”); it functions adverbially modifying the verb תִּשָּׂא (“Completely forgive!”; see GKC 415 §128.e).

[14:2]  ¹³ sn The repetition of the root לָקַח (laqakh) creates a striking wordplay in 14:2. If Israel will bring (לָקַח) its confession to God, he will accept (לָקַח) repentant Israel and completely forgive its sin.

[14:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and accept [our] speech.” The word טוֹב (tov) is often confused with the common homonymic root I טוֹב (tov, “good”; BDB 373 s.v. I טוֹב). However, this is probably IV טוֹב (tov, “word, speech”; HALOT 372 s.v. IV טוֹב), a hapax legomenon that is related to the verb טבב (“to speak”; HALOT 367 s.v. טבב) and the noun טִבָּה (tibbah, “rumor”; HALOT 367 s.v. טִבָּה). The term טוֹב (“word; speech”) refers to the repentant prayer mentioned in 14:1-3. Most translations relate it to I טוֹב and treat it as (1) accusative direct object: “accept that which is good” (RSV, NJPS), “Accept our good sacrifices” (CEV), or (2) adverbial accusative of manner: “receive [us] graciously” (KJV, NASB, NIV). Note TEV, however, which follows the suggestion made here: “accept our prayer.”

[14:2]  ¹⁵ tc The MT reads פָרִים (farim, “bulls”), but the LXX reflects פְּרִי (pÿri, “fruit”), a reading followed by NASB, NIV, NRSV: “that we may offer the fruit of [our] lips [as sacrifices to you].” Although the Greek expression in Heb 13:15 (καρπὸν χειλέων, karpon xeilewn, “the fruit of lips”) reflects this LXX phrase, the MT makes good sense as it stands; NT usage of the LXX should not be considered decisive in resolving OT textual problems. The noun פָרִים (parim, “bulls”) functions as an adverbial accusative of state.

[2:15]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “as in the days of her youth” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[2:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “as in the day when” (so KJV, NASB).