Psalms 119:80

119:80 May I be fully committed to your statutes, ¹ 

so that I might not be ashamed.

Hosea 7:14

7:14 They do not pray to me, ² 

but howl in distress on their beds;

They slash themselves ³  for grain and new wine,

but turn away from me.

Hosea 7:16

7:16 They turn to Baal; ⁴ 

they are like an unreliable bow.

Their leaders will fall by the sword

because their prayers to Baal ⁵  have made me angry.

So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt. ⁶ 

Hosea 10:2

10:2 Their heart is slipping;

soon they will be punished for their guilt.

The Lord ⁷  will break their altars;

he will completely destroy their fertility pillars.

Acts 8:21

8:21 You have no share or part ⁸  in this matter ⁹  because your heart is not right before God!

¹ tn Heb “may my heart be complete in your statutes.”

² tn Heb “they do not cry out to me in their heart”; NLT “with sincere hearts.”

³ tc The MT reads יִתְגּוֹרָרוּ (yitgoraru) which is either (1) Hitpolel imperfect 3rd person masculine plural (“they assemble themselves”; so KJV, NASB) from I גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn”; BDB 157 s.v. I גּוּר) or (2) Hitpolel imperfect 3rd person masculine plural (“they excite themselves”) from II גּוּר (gur, “to stir up”; BDB 158 s.v. II גּוּר). However, the Hebrew lexicographers suggest that both of these options are unlikely. Several other Hebrew mss preserve an alternate textual tradition of יִתְגּוֹדָדוּ (yitgodadu) which is a Hitpolel imperfect 3rd person common plural (“they slash themselves”) from גָּדַד (gadad, “to cut”; BDB 151 s.v. גָּדַד), as also reflected in the LXX (cf. NAB “they lacerated themselves”; NRSV, TEV “gash themselves”; NLT “cut themselves.” This reflects the pagan Canaanite cultic practice of priests cutting themselves and draining their blood on the ground to elicit agricultural fertility by resurrecting the slain fertility god Baal from the underworld (Deut 14:1; 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5). Cf. CEV which adds “in the hope that Baal will bless their crops.”

⁴ tc The MT reads the enigmatic יָשׁוּבוּ לֹא עָל (yashuvu lo’ ’al) which is taken variously: “they turn, but not upward” (NASB); “they do not turn to the Most High” (NIV); “they return, but not to the most High” (KJV). The BHS editors suggest יָשׁוּבוּ לַבַּעַל (yashuvu labba’al, “they turn to Baal”; so RSV) or יָשׁוּבוּ לַבְּלִיַּעַל (yashuvu labbÿliyya’al, “they turn to Belial”) which is reflected by the LXX.

⁵ tn Heb “because their tongue.” The term “tongue” is used figuratively, as a metonymy of cause (tongue) for the effect (prayers to Baal).

⁶ tn Heb “this [will] be for scorn in the land of Egypt”; NIV “they will be ridiculed (NAB shall be mocked) in the land of Egypt.”

⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn The translation “share or part” is given by L&N 63.13.

⁹ tn Since the semantic range for λόγος (logos) is so broad, a number of different translations could be given for the prepositional phrase here. Something along the lines of “in this thing” would work well, but is too colloquial for the present translation.