2 Chronicles 30:10-11

30:10 The messengers journeyed from city to city through the land of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun, but people mocked and ridiculed them. ¹  30:11 But some men from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 25:7

25:7 But a prophet ²  visited him and said: “O king, the Israelite troops must not go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel or any of the Ephraimites. ³ 

2 Chronicles 35:6

35:6 Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves, and make preparations for your countrymen to do what the Lord commanded through Moses.” ⁴ 

Hosea 5:4

5:4 Their wicked deeds do not allow them to return to their God;

because a spirit of idolatry ⁵  controls their heart, ⁶ 

and they do not acknowledge the Lord.

Hosea 7:8-9

Israel Lacks Discernment and Refuses to Repent

7:8 Ephraim has mixed itself like flour ⁷  among the nations;

Ephraim is like a ruined cake of bread that is scorched on one side. ⁸ 

7:9 Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced, ⁹ 

but he does not recognize it!

His head is filled with gray hair,

but he does not realize it!

Hosea 11:8

The Divine Dilemma: Judgment or Mercy?

11:8 How can I give you up, ¹⁰  O Ephraim?

How can I surrender you, O Israel?

How can I treat you like Admah?

How can I make you like Zeboiim?

I have had a change of heart! ¹¹ 

All my tender compassions are aroused! ¹² 

[30:10]  ¹ tn Heb “and they were mocking them and ridiculing them.”

[25:7]  ² tn Heb “man of God.”

[25:7]  ³ tn Heb “Israel, all the sons of Ephraim.”

[35:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.”

[5:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “a spirit of harlotries”; NIV “a spirit of prostitution”; TEV “Idolatry has a powerful hold on them.” However, CEV takes this literally: “your constant craving for sex keeps you from knowing me.”

[5:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “is in their heart” (so NIV); NASB, NRSV “is within them.”

[7:8]  ⁷ tn The words “like flour” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied by the imagery.

[7:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “a cake of bread not turned.” This metaphor compares Ephraim to a ruined cake of bread that was not turned over in time to avoid being scorched and burned (see BDB 728 s.v. עֻגָה). Cf. NLT “as worthless as a half-baked cake.”

[7:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “foreigners consume his strength”; NRSV “devour (sap NIV) his strength.”

[11:8]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect verbs in 11:8 function as imperfects of capability. See IBHS 564 §34.1a.

[11:8]  ¹¹ tn The phrase נֶהְפַּךְ עָלַי לִבִּי (nehpakh ’alay libbi) is an idiom that can be taken in two ways: (1) emotional sense: to describe a tumult of emotions, not just a clash of ideas, that are afflicting a person (Lam 1:20; HALOT 253 s.v. הפך 1.c) and (2) volitional sense: to describe a decisive change of policy, that is, a reversal of sentiment from amity to hatred (Exod 14:5; Ps 105:25; BDB 245 s.v. הָפַךְ 1; HALOT 253 s.v. 3). The English versions alternate between these two: (1) emotional discomfort and tension over the prospect of destroying Israel: “mine heart is turned within me” (KJV), “my heart recoils within me” (RSV, NRSV), “My heart is turned over within Me” (NASB), “My heart is torn within me” (NLT); and (2) volitional reversal of previous decision to totally destroy Israel: “I have had a change of heart” (NJPS), “my heart is changed within me” (NIV), and “my heart will not let me do it!” (TEV). Both BDB 245 s.v. 1.b and HALOT 253 s.v. 3 suggest that the idiom describes a decisive change of heart (reversal of decision to totally destroy Israel once and for all) rather than emotional turbulence of God shifting back and forth between whether to destroy or spare Israel. This volitional nuance is supported by the modal function of the 1st person common singular imperfects in 11:8 (“I will not carry out my fierce anger…I will not destroy Ephraim…I will not come in wrath”) and by the prophetic announcement of future restoration in 11:10-11. Clearly, a dramatic reversal both in tone and in divine intention occurs between 11:5-11.

[11:8]  ¹² tn The Niphal of כָּמַר (kamar) means “to grow warm, tender” (BDB 485 s.v. כָּמַר), as its use in a simile with the oven demonstrates (Lam 5:10). It is used several times to describe the arousal of the most tender affection (Gen 43:30; 1 Kgs 3:26; Hos 11:8; BDB 485 s.v. 1; HALOT 482 s.v. כמר 1). Cf. NRSV “my compassion grows warm and tender.”