Hosea 11:3

11:3 Yet it was I who led ¹  Ephraim,

I took them by the arm;

but they did not acknowledge

that I had healed them. ² 

Hosea 12:9-10

12:9 “I am the Lord your God ³  who brought you ⁴  out of Egypt;

I will make you live in tents again as in the days of old. ⁵ 

12:10 I spoke to the prophets;

I myself revealed many visions; ⁶ 

I spoke in parables ⁷  through ⁸  the prophets.”

Hosea 13:4

Well-Fed Israel Will Be Fed to Wild Animals

13:4 But I am the Lord your God,

who brought you out of Egypt.

Therefore, you must not acknowledge any God but me;

except me there is no Savior.

[11:3]  ¹ tn Or “taught Ephraim to walk” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). The verb תִרְגַּלְתִּי (tirgalti, “I taught [him] to walk, I led [him]”; Tiphil perfect 1st person common singular from רָגַל, ragal, “to walk”) is an unusual verb stem: the Tiphil (properly Taphel) is attested three times in Biblical Hebrew (Hos 11:3; Jer 12:5; 22:15) and once in Biblical Aramaic (Ezra 4:7; see GKC 153 §55.h).

[11:3]  ² tn Or “that it was I who had healed them” (NIV, NLT similar).

[12:9]  ³ sn The Lord answers Ephraim’s self-assertion (“I am rich!”) with the self-introduction formula (“I am the Lord your God!”) which introduces judgment oracles and ethical instructions.

[12:9]  ⁴ tn Or “[Ever since you came] out of Egypt”; CEV “just as I have been since the time you were in Egypt.”

[12:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “as in the days of meeting” (כִּימֵי מוֹעֵד, kime mo’ed). This phrase might refer to “time of the festival” (e.g., Hos 2:13; 9:5; cf. NASB, NRSV, NLT) or the Lord’s first “meeting” with Israel in the desert (cf. NAB, TEV, CEV). In his announcements about Israel’s future, Hosea uses “as in the days of […]” (כִּימֵי) or “as in the day of […]” (כְּיוֹם, kÿyom) to introduce analogies drawn from Israel’s early history (e.g., Hos 2:5, 17; 9:9; 10:9).

[12:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “I myself multiplied vision[s]”; cf. NASB “I gave numerous visions.”

[12:10]  ⁶ tn There is debate whether אֲדַמֶּה (’adammeh, Piel imperfect 1st person common singular) is derived from I דָמָה (damah, “similitude, parable”) or II דָמָה (“oracle of doom”). The lexicons favor the former (BDB 198 s.v. I דָּמָה 1; HALOT 225-26 s.v. I דמה). Most translators favor “parables” (cf. KJV, RSV, NASB, NIV, NJPS), but a few opt for “oracles of doom” (cf. NRSV, TEV, CEV).

[12:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “by the hand of”; KJV, ASV “by the ministry of.”