Hosea 2:9-12

Context

2:9 Therefore, I will take back¹ my grain during the harvest time²

and my new wine when it ripens;³

I will take away my wool and my flax

which I had provided⁴ in order to clothe her.⁵

2:10 Soon⁶ I will expose her lewd nakedness⁷ in front of her lovers,

and no one will be able to rescue her from me!⁸

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 prostitution⁹

that my lovers gave to me!”

I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees¹⁰ into an uncultivated thicket,

so that wild animals¹¹ will devour them.

[2:9] ¹tn 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] ²tn Heb “in its time” (so NAB, NRSV).

[2:9] ³tn Heb “in its season” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[2:9] ⁴tn 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] ⁵tn Heb “to cover her nakedness” (so KJV and many other English versions); TEV “for clothing.”

[2:10] ⁶tn 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] ⁷tn Heb “her lewdness” (so KJV, NIV); NAB, NRSV “her shame.”

[2:10] ⁸tn Heb “out of my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); TEV “save her from my power.”

[2:12] ⁹tn 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] ¹⁰tn Heb “I will turn them”; the referents (vines and fig trees) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:12] ¹¹tn Heb “the beasts of the field” (so KJV, NASB); the same expression also occurs in v. 18).