Ezekiel 23:27

23:27 So I will put an end to your obscene conduct and your prostitution which you have practiced in the land of Egypt. ¹  You will not seek their help ²  or remember Egypt anymore.

Ezekiel 37:23

37:23 They will not defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, and all their rebellious deeds. I will save them from all their unfaithfulness ³  by which they sinned. I will purify them; they will become my people and I will become their God.

Isaiah 1:25-26

1:25 I will attack you; ⁴ 

I will purify your metal with flux. ⁵ 

I will remove all your slag. ⁶ 

1:26 I will reestablish honest judges as in former times,

wise advisers as in earlier days. ⁷ 

Then you will be called, ‘The Just City,

Faithful Town.’”

Isaiah 2:18

2:18 The worthless idols will be completely eliminated. ⁸ 

Isaiah 27:9

27:9 So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven, ⁹ 

and this is how they will show they are finished sinning: ¹⁰ 

They will make all the stones of the altars ¹¹ 

like crushed limestone,

and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand. ¹² 

Hosea 2:6-17

The Lord’s Discipline Will Bring Israel Back

2:6 Therefore, I will soon ¹³  fence her in ¹⁴  with thorns;

I will wall her in ¹⁵  so that ¹⁶  she cannot find her way. ¹⁷ 

2:7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch ¹⁸  them;

she will seek them, but she will not find them. ¹⁹ 

Then she will say,

“I will go back ²⁰  to my husband, ²¹ 

because I was better off then than I am now.” ²² 

Agricultural Fertility Withdrawn from Israel

2:8 Yet ²³  until now ²⁴  she has refused to acknowledge ²⁵  that I ²⁶  was the one

who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;

and that it was I who ²⁷  lavished on her the silver and gold –

which they ²⁸  used in worshiping Baal! ²⁹ 

2:9 Therefore, I will take back ³⁰  my grain during the harvest time ³¹ 

and my new wine when it ripens; ³² 

I will take away my wool and my flax

which I had provided ³³  in order to clothe her. ³⁴ 

2:10 Soon ³⁵  I will expose her lewd nakedness ³⁶  in front of her lovers,

and no one will be able to rescue her from me! ³⁷ 

2:11 I will put an end to all her celebration:

her annual religious festivals,

monthly new moon celebrations,

and weekly Sabbath festivities –

all her appointed festivals.

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

about which she said, “These are my wages for prostitution ³⁸ 

that my lovers gave to me!”

I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees ³⁹  into an uncultivated thicket,

so that wild animals ⁴⁰  will devour them.

2:13 “I will punish her for the festival days

when she burned incense to the Baal idols; ⁴¹ 

she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry,

and went after her lovers,

but ⁴²  she forgot me!” ⁴³  says the Lord.

Future Repentance and Restoration of Israel

2:14 However, in the future I will allure her; ⁴⁴ 

I will lead ⁴⁵  her back into the wilderness,

and speak tenderly to her.

2:15 From there I will give back her vineyards to her,

and turn the “Valley of Trouble” ⁴⁶  into an “Opportunity ⁴⁷  for Hope.”

There she will sing as she did when she was young, ⁴⁸ 

when ⁴⁹  she came up from the land of Egypt.

2:16 “At that time,” ⁵⁰  declares the Lord,

“you will call, ⁵¹  ‘My husband’; ⁵² 

you will never again call me, ⁵³  ‘My master.’ ⁵⁴ 

2:17 For ⁵⁵  I will remove the names of the Baal idols ⁵⁶  from your lips, ⁵⁷ 

so that you will never again utter their names!” ⁵⁸ 

Micah 5:10-14

The Lord Will Purify His People

5:10 “In that day,” says the Lord,

“I will destroy ⁵⁹  your horses from your midst,

and smash your chariots.

5:11 I will destroy the cities of your land,

and tear down all your fortresses.

5:12 I will remove the sorcery ⁶⁰  that you practice, ⁶¹ 

and you will no longer have omen readers living among you. ⁶² 

5:13 I will remove your idols and sacred pillars from your midst;

you will no longer worship what your own hands made.

5:14 I will uproot your images of Asherah ⁶³  from your midst,

and destroy your idols. ⁶⁴ 

Zechariah 13:2

13:2 And also on that day,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will remove ⁶⁵  the names of the idols from the land and they will never again be remembered. Moreover, I will remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.

Zechariah 13:1

The Refinement of Judah

13:1 “In that day there will be a fountain opened up for the dynasty ⁶⁶  of David and the people of Jerusalem ⁶⁷  to cleanse them from sin and impurity. ⁶⁸ 

Zechariah 5:1

Vision Six: The Flying Scroll

5:1 Then I turned to look, and there was a flying scroll!

[23:27]  ¹ tn Heb “I will cause your obscene conduct to cease from you and your harlotry from the land of Egypt.”

[23:27]  ² tn Heb “lift your eyes to them.”

[37:23]  ³ tc Heb “their dwellings.” The text as it stands does not make sense. Based on the LXX, a slight emendation of two vowels, including a mater, yields the reading “from their turning,” a reference here to their turning from God and deviating from his commandments. See BDB 1000 s.v. מְשׁוּבָה, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:407.

[1:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “turn my hand against you.” The second person pronouns in vv. 25-26 are feminine singular. Personified Jerusalem is addressed. The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack,” in Ps 81:15 HT (81:14 ET); Ezek 38:12; Am 1:8; Zech 13:7. In Jer 6:9 it is used of gleaning grapes.

[1:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will purify your dross as [with] flux.” “Flux” refers here to minerals added to the metals in a furnace to prevent oxides from forming. For this interpretation of II בֹּר (bor), see HALOT 153 s.v. II בֹּר and 750 s.v. סִיג.

[1:25]  ⁶ sn The metaphor comes from metallurgy; slag is the substance left over after the metallic ore has been refined.

[1:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will restore your judges as in the beginning; and your counselors as in the beginning.” In this context, where social injustice and legal corruption are denounced (see v. 23), the “judges” are probably government officials responsible for making legal decisions, while the “advisers” are probably officials who helped the king establish policies. Both offices are also mentioned in 3:2.

[2:18]  ⁸ tc The verb “pass away” is singular in the Hebrew text, despite the plural subject (“worthless idols”) that precedes. The verb should be emended to a plural; the final vav (ו) has been accidentally omitted by haplography (note the vav at the beginning of the immediately following form).

[27:9]  ⁹ tn Or “be atoned for” (NIV); cf. NRSV “be expiated.”

[27:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and this [is] all the fruit of removing his sin.” The meaning of the statement is not entirely clear, though “removing his sin” certainly parallels “Jacob’s sin will be removed” in the preceding line. If original, “all the fruit” may refer to the result of the decision to remove sin, but the phrase may be a corruption of לְכַפֵּר (lekhaper, “to atone for”), which in turn might be a gloss on הָסִר (hasir, “removing”).

[27:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “when he makes the stones of an altar.” The singular “altar” is collective here; pagan altars are in view, as the last line of the verse indicates. See also 17:8.

[27:9]  ¹² sn As interpreted and translated above, this verse says that Israel must totally repudiate its pagan religious practices in order to experience God’s forgiveness and restoration. Another option is to understand “in this way” and “this” in v. 9a as referring back to the judgment described in v. 8. In this case כָּפַר (kafar, “atone for”) is used in a sarcastic sense; Jacob’s sin is “atoned for” and removed through severe judgment. Following this line of interpretation, one might paraphrase the verse as follows: “So in this way (through judgment) Jacob’s sin will be “atoned for,” and this is the way his sin will be removed, when he (i.e., God) makes all the altar stones like crushed limestone….” This interpretation is more consistent with the tone of judgment in vv. 8 and 10-11.

[2:6]  ¹³ tn The deictic particle הִנְנִי (hinni, “Behold!”) introduces a future-time reference participle that refers to imminent future action: “I am about to” (TEV “I am going to”).

[2:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I will hedge up her way”; NIV “block her path.”

[2:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I will wall in her wall.” The cognate accusative construction וְגָדַרְתִּי אֶת־גְּדֵרָהּ (vÿgadarti ’et-gÿderah, “I will wall in her wall”) is an emphatic literary device. The 3rd person feminine singular suffix on the noun functions as a dative of disadvantage: “as a wall against her” (A. B. Davidson, Hebrew Syntax, 3, remark 2). The expression means “I will build a wall to bar her way.” Cf. KJV “I will make a wall”; TEV “I will build a wall”; RSV, NASB, NRSV “I will build a wall against her”; NLT “I will fence her in.”

[2:6]  ¹⁶ tn The disjunctive clause (object followed by negated verb) introduces a clause which can be understood as either purpose or result.

[2:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “her paths” (so NAB, NRSV).

[2:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “overtake” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NLT “be able to catch up with.”

[2:7]  ¹⁹ tn In the Hebrew text the accusative direct object pronoun אֹתָם (’otam, “them”) is omitted/elided for balanced poetic parallelism. The LXX supplies αὐτους (autous, “them”); but it is not necessary to emend the MT because this is a poetic literary convention rather than a textual problem.

[2:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I will go and return” (so NRSV). The two verbs joined with vav form a verbal hendiadys. Normally, the first verb functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal sense (GKC 386-87 §120.d, h). The Hebrew phrase אֵלְכָה וְאָשׁוּבָה (’elkhah vÿ’ashuvah, “I will go and I will return”) connotes, “I will return again.” As cohortatives, both verbs emphasize the resolution of the speaker.

[2:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “to my man, the first.” Many English translations (e.g., KJV, NAB, NRSV, TEV) take this as “my first husband,” although this implies that there was more than one husband involved. The text refers to multiple lovers, but these were not necessarily husbands.

[2:7]  ²² tn Or “because it was better for me then than now” (cf. NCV).

[2:8]  ²³ tn Or “For” (so KJV, NASB); or “But” (so NCV).

[2:8]  ²⁴ tn The phrase “until now” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[2:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “she does not know” (so NASB, NCV); or “she does not acknowledge.”

[2:8]  ²⁶ tn The 1st person common singular independent personal pronoun אָנֹכִי (’anokhi, “I”) is emphatic, since the subject of this verbal clause is already explicit in the verb נָתַתִּי (natatti, Qal perfect 1st person common singular: “I gave”).

[2:8]  ²⁷ tn The phrase “that it was I who” does not appear in the Hebrew text here, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[2:8]  ²⁸ sn The third person plural here is an obvious reference to the Israelites who had been unfaithful to the Lord in spite of all that he had done for them. To maintain the imagery of Israel as the prostitute, a third person feminine singular would be called for; in the interest of literary consistency this has been supplied in some English translations (e.g., NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[2:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for Baal” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); cf. TEV “in the worship of Baal.”

[2:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “I will return and I will take.” The two verbs joined with vav conjunction form a verbal hendiadys in which the first verb functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal sense (GKC 386-87 §120.d, h): אָשׁוּב וְלָקַחְתִּי (’ashuv vÿlaqakhti) means “I will take back.”

[2:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “in its time” (so NAB, NRSV).

[2:9]  ³² tn Heb “in its season” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[2:9]  ³³ tn The words “which I had provided” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons; cf. NIV “intended to cover.”

[2:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “to cover her nakedness” (so KJV and many other English versions); TEV “for clothing.”

[2:10]  ³⁵ tn The particle עַתָּה (’attah) often refers to the imminent or the impending future: “very soon” (BDB 774 s.v. עַתָּה 1.b). In Hosea it normally introduces imminent judgment (Hos 2:12; 4:16; 5:7; 8:8, 13; 10:2).

[2:10]  ³⁶ tn Heb “her lewdness” (so KJV, NIV); NAB, NRSV “her shame.”

[2:10]  ³⁷ tn Heb “out of my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); TEV “save her from my power.”

[2:12]  ³⁸ 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.”

[2:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “I will turn them”; the referents (vines and fig trees) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the beasts of the field” (so KJV, NASB); the same expression also occurs in v. 18).

[2:13]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “the days of the Baals, to whom she burned incense.” The word “festival” is supplied to clarify the referent of “days,” and the word “idols” is supplied in light of the plural “Baals” (cf. NLT “her images of Baal”).

[2:13]  ⁴² tn The vav prefixed to a nonverb (וְאֹתִי, vé’oti) introduces a disjunctive contrastive clause, which is rhetorically powerful.

[2:13]  ⁴³ tn The accusative direct object pronoun וְאֹתִי (vé’oti, “me”) is emphatic in the word order of this clause (cf. NIV “but me she forgot”), emphasizing the heinous inappropriateness of Israel’s departure from the Lord.

[2:14]  ⁴⁴ tn The participle מְפַתֶּיהָ (méfatteha, Piel participle masculine singular + 3rd feminine singular suffix from פָּתָה, patah, “to allure”) following the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “Now!”) describes an event that will occur in the immediate or near future.

[2:14]  ⁴⁵ tn Following the future-time referent participle (מְפַתֶּיהָ, méfatteha) there is a string of perfects introduced by vav consecutive that refer to future events.

[2:15]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “Valley of Achor,” so named because of the unfortunate incident recorded in Josh 7:1-26 (the name is explained in v. 26; the Hebrew term Achor means “disaster” or “trouble”). Cf. TEV, CEV “Trouble Valley.”

[2:15]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “door” or “doorway”; cf. NLT “gateway.” Unlike the days of Joshua, when Achan’s sin jeopardized Israel’s mission and cast a dark shadow over the nation, Israel’s future return to the land will be marked by renewed hope.

[2:15]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “as in the days of her youth” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[2:15]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “as in the day when” (so KJV, NASB).

[2:16]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “And in that day”; NLT “In that coming day.”

[2:16]  ⁵¹ tc The MT reads תִּקְרְאִי (tiqrÿ’i, “you will call”; Qal imperfect 2nd person feminine singular). The versions (LXX, Syriac, Vulgate) all reflect an alternate Vorlage of תִּקְרָא לִי (tiqra’ li, “she will call me”; Qal imperfect 3rd person feminine singular followed by preposition לְ, lamed, + 1st person common singular pronominal suffix). This textual variant undoubtedly arose under the influence of לִי תִּקְרְאִי (tiqrÿ’i li) which follows. Most English versions follow the reading of the MT (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT, CEV), but some follow the ancient versions and read the 3rd person (“she”, so NAB, NCV, TEV).

[2:16]  ⁵² tn There are wordplays on the terms אִישׁ (’ish) and בַּעַל (ba’al) here. The term אִישִׁי (’ishi, “my man, husband”) is a title of affection (Gen 2:23; 3:6, 16) as the counterpart to אִשָּׁה (’ishah, “woman, wife”). The term בַּעְלִי (ba’li, “my lord”) emphasizes the husband’s legal position (Exod 21:3; Deut 22:22; 24:4). The relationship will no longer be conditioned on the outward legal commitment but on a new inward bond of mutual affection and love.

[2:16]  ⁵³ tc The MT reads תִקְרְאִי לִי (tiqrÿ’i li, “you will call me”; Qal imperfect 2nd person feminine singular followed by preposition לְ, lamed, + 1st person common singular pronominal suffix). The versions (LXX, Syriac, Vulgate) all reflect an alternate Vorlage of תִקְרְא לִי (tiqrÿ’ li, “she will call me”; Qal imperfect 3rd person feminine singular followed by preposition לְ + 1st person common singular pronominal suffix). This textual variant is related to the preceding textual issue (see preceding tc note).

[2:16]  ⁵⁴ sn There is a wordplay on the terms בַּעְלִי (ba’li, “my master”) and הַבְּעָלִים (habbé’alim, “the Baals”) which are derived from the root בַּעַל (ba’al, “master; lord”). This wordplay is especially effective because the term בַּעַל can refer to one’s husband and is also the name of the Canaanite storm god Baal. Referring to a spouse the term normally means “husband; master.” It was a common, ordinary, nonpejorative term that was frequently used in an interchangeable manner with אִישׁ (’ish, “husband; man”). Due to its similarity in sound to the abhorrent Canaanite fertility god Baal, the repentant Israelites would be so spiritually sensitive that they would refrain from even uttering this neutral term for fear of recalling their former idolatry. The purpose of the exile is to end Israel’s worship of Baal and to remove syncretism.

[2:17]  ⁵⁵ tn The vav consecutive prefixed to וַהֲסִרֹתִי (vahasiroti) “I will remove” (vav consecutive + Hiphil perfect 1st person common singular) introduces an explanatory clause.

[2:17]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “the Baals.” The singular term בַּעַל (ba’al) refers to the Canaanite god Baal himself, while the plural form הַבְּעָלִים (habbé’alim) refers to the manifestations of the god (i.e., idols; BDB 127 s.v. בָּעַל II.1).

[2:17]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “from her mouth.” In the translation this is rendered as second person for consistency.

[2:17]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “they will no longer be mentioned by their name.”

[5:10]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “cut off” (also in the following verse).

[5:12]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “magic charms” (so NCV, TEV); NIV, NLT “witchcraft”; NAB “the means of divination.” The precise meaning of this Hebrew word is uncertain, but note its use in Isa 47:9, 12.

[5:12]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “from your hands.”

[5:12]  ⁶² tn Heb “and you will not have omen-readers.”

[5:14]  ⁶³ tn Or “Asherah poles.”

[5:14]  ⁶⁴ tn The MT reads “your cities,” but many emend the text to צִרֶיךָ (tsirekha, “your images”) or עֲצַבֶּיךָ (’atsbbekha, “your idols”).

[13:2]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “cut off” (so NRSV); NAB “destroy”; NIV “banish.”

[13:1]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “house” (so NIV, NRSV), referring to dynastic descendants.

[13:1]  ⁶⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[13:1]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “for sin and for impurity.” The purpose implied here has been stated explicitly in the translation for clarity.