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. 1
I will no longer love them;
all their rulers are rebels.
9:2 Threshing floors and wine vats will not feed the people, 2
and new wine only deceives them. 3
1:1 4 This is the word of the Lord which was revealed to Hosea 5 son of Beeri during the time when 6 Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah ruled Judah, 7 and during the time when Jeroboam son of Joash 8 ruled Israel. 9
8:3 The women singing in the temple 10 will wail in that day.”
The sovereign Lord is speaking.
“There will be many corpses littered everywhere! 11 Be quiet!”
9:1 I saw the sovereign One 12 standing by the altar 13 and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, 14 so the thresholds shake!
Knock them down on the heads of all the people, 15
and I will kill the survivors 16 with the sword.
No one will be able to run away; 17
no one will be able to escape. 18
11:1 Open your gates, Lebanon,
so that the fire may consume your cedars. 19
1 tn Heb “out of my house” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV, NCV, NLT “my land.”
2 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “her” (so KJV, ASV). This is taken as a collective singular (so also most modern English versions).
3 tc The textual problems in Hosea are virtually unparalleled in the OT. The Masoretic Text (MT), represented by the Leningrad Codex (c.
4 tn Heb “The word of the
5 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.”
6 tn Heb “Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”
7 sn Joash is a variation of the name Jehoash. Some English versions use “Jehoash” here (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT).
8 tn Heb “Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel.”
4 tn Or “palace” (NASB, NCV, TEV).
5 tn Heb “Many corpses in every place he will throw out.” The subject of the verb is probably impersonal, though many emend the active (Hiphil) form to a passive (Hophal): “Many corpses in every place will be thrown out.”
5 tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
6 sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.
7 tn Or “the capitals.” The Hebrew singular form is collective.
8 tn Heb “cut them off on the head of all of them.” The translation assumes the objective suffix on the verb refers to the tops of the pillars and that the following prepositional phrase refers to the people standing beneath. Another option is to take this phrase as referring to the pillars, in which case one could translate, “Knock all the tops of the pillars off.”
9 tn Heb “the remnant of them.” One could possibly translate, “every last one of them” (cf. NEB “to the last man”). This probably refers to those who survive the collapse of the temple, which may symbolize the northern kingdom.
10 tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”
11 tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”
6 sn In this poetic section, plants and animals provide the imagery for rulers, especially evil ones (cf. respectively Isa 10:33-34; Ezek 31:8; Amos 2:9; Nah 2:12).