Hosea 9:11-12

The Fertility Worshipers Will Become Infertile

9:11 Ephraim will be like a bird;

what they value ¹  will fly away.

They will not bear children –

they will not enjoy pregnancy –

they will not even conceive! ² 

9:12 Even if they raise their children,

I will take away every last one of them. ³ 

Woe to them!

For I will turn away from them.

Hosea 9:16-17

9:16 Ephraim will be struck down ⁴  –

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.

¹ tn Heb “their glory” (so NASB); TEV “Israel’s greateness.”

² 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).

³ tn Heb “I will bereave them from a man”; NRSV “I will bereave them until no one is left.”

⁴ tn Or perhaps, following the plant metaphor, “will be blighted” (NIV similar).