Hosea 9:15

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.

Hosea 9:2

9:2 Threshing floors and wine vats will not feed the people, ² 

and new wine only deceives them. ³ 

Hosea 1:1

Superscription

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 

Amos 8:3

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!”

Amos 9:1

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 

Zechariah 11:1

The History and Future of Judah’s Wicked Kings

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. 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.

⁴ tn Heb “The word of the Lord which was to Hosea.” The words “This is” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

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).