Hosea 13:12-13

Israel’s Punishment Will Not Be Withheld Much Longer

13:12 The punishment ¹  of Ephraim has been decreed; ² 

his punishment is being stored up for the future.

13:13 The labor pains of a woman will overtake him,

but the baby will lack wisdom;

when the time arrives,

he will not come out of the womb!

[13:12]  ¹ tn The noun עָוֹן (’avon) has a three-fold range of meanings: (1) “iniquity,” so KJV, NASB, NRSV; (2) “guilt,” so NAB, NIV; and (3) “punishment” (BDB 730 s.v. עָוֹן). The oracle of 13:12-13 announces that Israel’s punishment, though momentarily withheld, will suddenly come upon her like labor pains that will kill her.

[13:12]  ² tn Heb “has been bound.” צָרַר (tsarar, “to bind”) refers elsewhere to the action of scribes binding a document into a sealed scroll of safekeeping (Isa 8:16; HALOT 1058 s.v. I צרר 1; BDB 864 s.v. צָרַר 1). Here it figuratively depicts the record of Israel’s sins being written down and permanently bound in a sealed scroll for safekeeping (cf. NCV, TEV “are on record”). The guilt of Israel’s sin will be retained.