Hosea 9:9-17

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times

9:9 They have sunk deep into corruption ¹ 

as in the days of Gibeah.

He will remember their wrongdoing.

He will repay them for their sins.

9:10 When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness.

I viewed your ancestors ²  like an early fig on a fig tree in its first season.

Then they came to Baal-Peor and they dedicated themselves to shame –

they became as detestable as what they loved.

The Fertility Worshipers Will Become Infertile

9:11 Ephraim will be like a bird;

what they value ³  will fly away.

They will not bear children –

they will not enjoy pregnancy –

they will not even conceive! ⁴ 

9:12 Even if they raise their children,

I will take away every last one of them. ⁵ 

Woe to them!

For I will turn away from them.

9:13 Just as lion cubs are born predators, ⁶ 

so Ephraim will bear his sons for slaughter.

9:14 Give them, O Lord –

what will you give them?

Give them wombs that miscarry,

and breasts that cannot nurse! ⁷ 

9:15 Because of all their evil in Gilgal,

I hate them there.

On account of their evil deeds,

I will drive them out of my land. ⁸ 

I will no longer love them;

all their rulers are rebels.

9:16 Ephraim will be struck down ⁹  –

their root will be dried up;

they will not yield any fruit.

Even if they do bear children,

I will kill their precious offspring.

9:17 My God will reject them,

for they have not obeyed him;

so they will be fugitives among the nations.

[9:9]  ¹ tn Or more literally, “they are deeply corrupted.” The two verbs הֶעְמִיקוּ־שִׁחֵתוּ (he’miqu-shikhetu; literally, “they have made deep, they act corruptly”) are coordinated without a conjunction vav to form a verbal hendiadys: the second verb represents the main idea, while the first functions adverbially (GKC 386-87 §120.g). Here Gesenius suggests “they are deeply/radically corrupted.” Several translations mirror the syntax of this hendiadys: “They have deeply corrupted themselves” (KJV, ASV, NRSV), “They have been grievously corrupt” (NJPS), and “They are hopelessly evil” (TEV). Others reverse the syntax for the sake of a more graphic English idiom: “They have gone deep in depravity” (NASB) and “They have sunk deep into corruption” (NIV). Some translations fail to represent the hendiadys at all: “You are brutal and corrupt” (CEV). The translation “They are deeply corrupted” mirrors the Hebrew syntax, but “They have sunk deep into corruption” is a more graphic English idiom and is preferred here (cf. NAB “They have sunk to the depths of corruption”).

[9:10]  ² tn Heb “fathers”; a number of more recent English versions use the more general “ancestors” here.

[9:11]  ³ tn Heb “their glory” (so NASB); TEV “Israel’s greateness.”

[9:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “no childbearing, no pregnancy, no conception.” The preposition מִן (min) prefixed to the three parallel nouns functions in a privative sense, indicating deprivation (BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7).

[9:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will bereave them from a man”; NRSV “I will bereave them until no one is left.”

[9:13]  ⁶ tc The MT is corrupt in 9:13. The BHS editors suggest emending the text to follow the LXX reading. See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:250-51.

[9:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “breasts that shrivel up dry”; cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV “dry breasts.”

[9:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “out of my house” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV, NCV, NLT “my land.”

[9:16]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps, following the plant metaphor, “will be blighted” (NIV similar).