Hosea 8:2-4

8:2 Israel cries out to me,

“My God, we acknowledge you!”

8:3 But Israel has rejected what is morally good;

so an enemy will pursue him.

The Political and Cultic Sin of Israel

8:4 They enthroned kings without my consent! ¹ 

They appointed princes without my approval! ² 

They made idols out of their silver and gold,

but they will be destroyed! ³ 

Hosea 8:1

God Will Raise Up the Assyrians to Attack Israel

8:1 Sound the alarm! ⁴ 

An eagle ⁵  looms over the temple of the Lord!

For they have broken their covenant with me, ⁶ 

and have rebelled against my law.

Hosea 1:1

Superscription

1:1 ⁷ This is the word of the Lord which was revealed to Hosea ⁸  son of Beeri during the time when ⁹  Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah ruled Judah, ¹⁰  and during the time when Jeroboam son of Joash ¹¹  ruled Israel. ¹² 

Zephaniah 1:5

1:5 I will remove ¹³  those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, ¹⁴ 

those who swear allegiance to the Lord ¹⁵  while taking oaths in the name of ¹⁶  their ‘king,’ ¹⁷ 

Matthew 6:24

6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate ¹⁸  the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise ¹⁹  the other. You cannot serve God and money. ²⁰ 

Revelation 3:15-16

3:15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. ²¹  I wish you were either cold or hot! 3:16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going ²²  to vomit ²³  you out of my mouth!

¹ tn Heb “but without me”; NCV “without asking my permission”; CEV “without consulting me.”

² tn Heb “but I did not know”; NRSV “but without my knowledge.”

³ tn Heb “in order to be cut off.” The text gives the impression that they made the idols for this purpose, but the language is ironic and sarcastic, bringing out the futility of their efforts. One could paraphrase, “they made idols…but only so that they might be destroyed.” Though they had other plans for the idols, God’s judgment would bring their intentions to naught.

⁴ tn Heb “A horn unto your gums!”; NAB “A trumpet to your lips!”

⁵ tn Or perhaps “A vulture.” Some identify the species indicated by the Hebrew term נֶשֶׁר (nesher) as the griffon vulture (cf. NEB, NRSV).

⁶ tn Heb “my covenant” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “the covenant I made with them.”

⁷ tc The textual problems in Hosea are virtually unparalleled in the OT. The Masoretic Text (MT), represented by the Leningrad Codex (c. a.d. 1008), which served as the basis for both BHK and BHS, and the Aleppo Codex (c. a.d. 952), are textually corrupt by all accounts and have a multitude of scribal errors. Many medieval Masoretic mss preserve textual variants that differ from the Leningrad and Aleppo Codices. The Qumran materials (4QXII^c,d,g) contain numerous textual variants that differ from the MT; unfortunately, these texts are quite fragmentary (frequently in the very place that an important textual problem appears). The textual tradition and translation quality of the LXX and the early Greek recensions (Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion) is mixed; in some places they are inferior to the MT but in other places they preserve a better reading. The textual apparatus of BHK and BHS contains many proposed emendations based on the ancient versions (Greek, Syriac, Latin, Aramaic) that often appear to be superior readings than what is preserved in the MT. In numerous cases, the MT readings are so difficult morphologically, syntactically, and contextually that conservative conjectural emendations are necessary to make sense of the text. Most major English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, RSV, NEB, NAB, NASB, NIV, TEV, NKJV, NJPS, NJB, NRSV, REB, NCV, CEV, NLT) adopt (either occasionally or frequently) textual variants reflected in the versions and occasionally adopt conservative conjectural emendations proposed in BHK and/or BHS. However, many of the textual problems in Hosea are so difficult that the English versions frequently are split among themselves. With this in mind, the present translation of Hosea must necessarily be viewed as only preliminary. Further work on the text and translation of Hosea is needed, not only in terms of the NET Bible but in Hosea studies in general. The text of Hosea should be better clarified when the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project completes work on the book of Hosea. For further study of textual problems in Hosea, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:228-71.

⁸ tn Heb “The word of the Lord which was to Hosea.” The words “This is” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁹ tn Heb “in the days of” (again later in this verse). Cf. NASB “during the days of”; NIV “during the reigns of”; NLT “during the years when.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”

¹¹ sn Joash is a variation of the name Jehoash. Some English versions use “Jehoash” here (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT).

¹² tn Heb “Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel.”

¹³ tn The words “I will remove” are repeated from v. 4b for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 4b-6 contain a long list of objects for the verb “I will remove” in v. 4b. In the present translation a new sentence was begun at the beginning of v. 5 in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences.

¹⁴ tn Heb “those who worship on their roofs the host of heaven.” The “host of heaven” included the sun, moon, planets, and stars, all of which were deified in the ancient Near East.

¹⁵ tc The MT reads, “those who worship, those who swear allegiance to the Lord.” The original form of the LXX omits the phrase “those who worship”; it may have been accidentally repeated from the preceding line. J. J. M. Roberts prefers to delete as secondary the phrase “those who swear allegiance” (J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah [OTL], 168).

¹⁶ tn Heb “those who swear by.”

¹⁷ tn The referent of “their king” is unclear. It may refer sarcastically to a pagan god (perhaps Baal) worshiped by the people. Some English versions (cf. NEB, NASB, NRSV) prefer to emend the text to “Milcom,” the name of an Ammonite god (following some LXX mss, Syriac, and Vulgate) or “Molech,” a god to whom the Israelites offered their children (cf. NIV, NLT). For a discussion of the options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 75-77.

¹⁸ sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.

¹⁹ tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”

²⁰ tn Grk “God and mammon.”

²¹ sn Laodicea was near two other towns, each of which had a unique water source. To the north was Hierapolis which had a natural hot spring, often used for medicinal purposes. To the east was Colossae which had cold, pure waters. In contrast to these towns, Laodicea had no permanent supply of good water. Efforts to pipe water to the city from nearby springs were successful, but it would arrive lukewarm. The metaphor in the text is not meant to relate spiritual fervor to temperature. This would mean that Laodicea would be commended for being spiritually cold, but it is unlikely that Jesus would commend this. Instead, the metaphor condemns Laodicea for not providing spiritual healing (being hot) or spiritual refreshment (being cold) to those around them. It is a condemnation of their lack of works and lack of witness.

²² tn Or “I intend.”

²³ tn This is the literal meaning of the Greek verb ἐμέω (emew). It is usually translated with a much weaker term like “spit out” due to the unpleasant connotations of the English verb “vomit,” as noted by L&N 23.44. The situation confronting the Laodicean church is a dire one, however, and such a term is necessary if the modern reader is to understand the gravity of the situation.