Jeremiah 44:17-18

44:17 Instead we will do everything we vowed we would do. ¹  We will sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the goddess called the Queen of Heaven ²  just as we and our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders previously did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and had no troubles. ³  44:18 But ever since we stopped sacrificing and pouring out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven, we have been in great need. Our people have died in wars or of starvation.” ⁴ 

Hosea 2:5

2:5 For their mother has committed adultery;

she who conceived them has acted shamefully.

For she said, “I will seek out ⁵  my lovers; ⁶ 

they are the ones who give me my bread and my water,

my wool, my flax, my olive oil, and my wine. ⁷ 

Hosea 2:12

2:12 I will destroy her vines and fig trees,

about which she said, “These are my wages for prostitution ⁸ 

that my lovers gave to me!”

I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees ⁹  into an uncultivated thicket,

so that wild animals ¹⁰  will devour them.

¹ tn Heb “that went out of our mouth.” I.e., everything we said, promised, or vowed.

² tn Heb “sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” The expressions have been combined to simplify and shorten the sentence. The same combination also occurs in vv. 18, 19.

³ tn Heb “saw [or experienced] no disaster/trouble/harm.”

⁴ tn Heb “we have been consumed/destroyed by sword or by starvation.” The “we” cannot be taken literally here since they are still alive.

⁵ tn Heb “I will go after” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

⁶ sn This statement alludes to the practice of sexual rites in the Canaanite fertility cult which attempted to secure agricultural fertility from the Canaanite gods (note the following reference to wool, flax, olive oil, and wine).

⁷ tn Heb “my drinks.” Many English versions use the singular “drink” here, but cf. NCV, TEV, CEV “wine.”

⁸ 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.”

⁹ tn Heb “I will turn them”; the referents (vines and fig trees) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Heb “the beasts of the field” (so KJV, NASB); the same expression also occurs in v. 18).