Hosea 12:12-14

Jacob in Aram, Israel in Egypt, and Ephraim in Trouble

12:12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram,

then Israel worked ¹  to acquire a wife;

he tended sheep to pay for her.

12:13 The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet,

and due to a prophet ²  Israel ³  was preserved alive. ⁴ 

12:14 But Ephraim bitterly ⁵  provoked him to anger;

so he will hold him accountable for the blood he has shed, ⁶ 

his Lord ⁷  will repay him for the contempt he has shown. ⁸ 

[12:12]  ¹ tn Heb “served” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “earned a wife.”

[12:13]  ² tn Heb “by a prophet” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[12:13]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “was protected”; NASB “was kept.” The verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “to watch, guard, keep, protect”) is repeated in 12:13-14 HT (12:12-13 ET). This repetition creates parallels between Jacob’s sojourn in Aram and Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness. Jacob “tended = kept” (שָׁמַר) sheep in Aram, and Israel was “preserved = kept” (נִשְׁמָר, nishmar) by Moses in the wilderness.

[12:14]  ⁵ tn The noun תַּמְרוּרִים (tamrurim, “bitter things”) functions as an adverbial accusative of manner, modifying the finite verb: “He bitterly provoked Him to anger” (GKC 375 §118.q). The plural form of the noun functions as a plural of intensity: “very bitterly.” For the adverbial function of the accusative, see IBHS 172-73 §10.2.2e.

[12:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “He will leave his blood upon him”; NIV “will leave upon him the guilt of his bloodshed.”

[12:14]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[12:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “for his contempt” (so NIV); NRSV “for his insults”; NAB “for his outrage.”