Hosea 2:11-15

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 ¹ 

that my lovers gave to me!”

I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees ²  into an uncultivated thicket,

so that wild animals ³  will devour them.

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

when she burned incense to the Baal idols; ⁴ 

she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry,

and went after her lovers,

but ⁵  she forgot me!” ⁶  says the Lord.

Future Repentance and Restoration of Israel

2:14 However, in the future I will allure her; ⁷ 

I will lead ⁸  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” ⁹  into an “Opportunity ¹⁰  for Hope.”

There she will sing as she did when she was young, ¹¹ 

when ¹²  she came up from the land of Egypt.

[2:12]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “I will turn them”; the referents (vines and fig trees) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:12]  ³ tn Heb “the beasts of the field” (so KJV, NASB); the same expression also occurs in v. 18).

[2:13]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn The vav prefixed to a nonverb (וְאֹתִי, vé’oti) introduces a disjunctive contrastive clause, which is rhetorically powerful.

[2:13]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “as in the days of her youth” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[2:15]  ¹² tn Heb “as in the day when” (so KJV, NASB).