2:12 I will destroy her vines and fig trees,
about which she said, “These are my wages for prostitution 1
that my lovers gave to me!”
I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees 2 into an uncultivated thicket,
so that wild animals 3 will devour them.
4:3 Therefore the land will mourn,
and all its inhabitants will perish. 4
The wild animals, 5 the birds of the sky,
and even the fish in the sea will perish.
12:11 Is there idolatry 6 in Gilead? 7
Certainly its inhabitants 8 will come to nothing! 9
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?
Surely their altars will be like stones heaped up on a plowed field!
1 tn Heb “my wages.” The words “for prostitution” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied for clarity; cf. CEV “gave…as payment for sex.”
2 tn Heb “I will turn them”; the referents (vines and fig trees) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “the beasts of the field” (so KJV, NASB); the same expression also occurs in v. 18).
4 tn Or “languish” (so KJV, NRSV); NIV “waste away.”
5 tn Heb “the beasts of the field” (so NAB, NIV).
7 tn The noun אָוֶן (’aven) has a broad range of meanings which includes: (1) “wickedness, sin, injustice” (2) “deception, nothingness,” and (3) “idolatry, idolatrous cult” (HALOT 22 s.v. אָוֶן; BDB 19 s.v. אָוֶן). While any of these meanings would fit the present context, the second-half of the verse refers to cultic sins, suggesting that Hosea is denouncing Gilead for its idolatry. Cf. NLT “Gilead is filled with sinners who worship idols.”
8 tn The introductory deictic particle אִם (’im) functions as an interrogative and introduces an interrogative clause: “Is there…?” (see HALOT 60 s.v. אִם 5; BDB 50 s.v. אִם 2). The LXX assumed that אִם was being used in its more common function as a conditional particle: “If there….”
9 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the inhabitants of Gilead) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tn The noun שָׁוְא (shav’, “emptiness, nothing”), which describes the imminent judgment of the people of Gilead, creates a wordplay in Hebrew with the noun אָוֶן (’aven, “nothingness” = idolatry). Because Gilead worshiped “nothingness” (idols), it would become “nothing” (i.e., be destroyed).