Hosea 4:12

4:12 They consult their wooden idols,

and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle.

The wind of prostitution blows them astray;

they commit spiritual adultery ¹  against their God.

Jeremiah 3:6-10

3:6 When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. ²  You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods. ³  3:7 Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. ⁴  But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did. ⁵  3:8 She also saw ⁶  that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. ⁷  Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, ⁸  she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. ⁹  3:9 Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land ¹⁰  through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone. ¹¹  3:10 In spite of all this, ¹²  Israel’s sister, unfaithful Judah, has not turned back to me with any sincerity; she has only pretended to do so,” ¹³  says the Lord.

Ezekiel 23:4-8

23:4 Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah ¹⁴  the name of her younger sister. They became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters. ¹⁵  Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

23:5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. ¹⁶  She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians ¹⁷  – warriors ¹⁸  23:6 clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 23:7 She bestowed her sexual favors on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired ¹⁹  – with all their idols. 23:8 She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt; for in her youth men had sex with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her. ²⁰ 

[4:12]  ¹ tn Heb “adultery.” The adjective “spiritual” is supplied in the translation to clarify that apostasy is meant here.

[3:6]  ² tn “Have you seen…” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

[3:6]  ³ tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.

[3:7]  ⁴ tn Or “I said to her, ‘Come back to me!’” The verb אָמַר (’amar) usually means “to say,” but here it means “to think,” of an assumption that turns out to be wrong (so HALOT 66.4 s.v. אמר); cf. Gen 44:28; Jer 3:19; Pss 82:6; 139:11; Job 29:18; Ruth 4:4; Lam 3:18.

[3:7]  ⁵ tn The words “what she did” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:8]  ⁶ tc Heb “she [‘her sister, unfaithful Judah’ from the preceding verse] saw” with one Hebrew ms, some Greek mss, and the Syriac version. The MT reads “I saw” which may be a case of attraction to the verb at the beginning of the previous verse.

[3:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “because she committed adultery.” The translation is intended to spell out the significance of the metaphor.

[3:8]  ⁸ tn The words “Even after her unfaithful sister, Judah, had seen this” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit in the connection and are supplied for clarification.

[3:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.

[3:9]  ¹⁰ tc The translation reads the form as a causative (Hiphil, תַּהֲנֵף, tahanef) with some of the versions in place of the simple stative (Qal, תֶּחֱנַף, tekhenaf) in the MT.

[3:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “because of the lightness of her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.”

[3:10]  ¹² tn Heb “And even in all this.”

[3:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “ has not turned back to me with all her heart but only in falsehood.”

[23:4]  ¹⁴ tn The names Oholah and Oholibah are both derived from the word meaning “tent.” The meaning of Oholah is “her tent,” while Oholibah means “my tent is in her.”

[23:4]  ¹⁵ sn In this allegory the Lord is depicted as being the husband of two wives. The OT law prohibited a man from marrying sisters (Lev 18:18), but the practice is attested in the OT (cf. Jacob). The metaphor is utilized here for illustrative purposes and does not mean that the Lord condoned such a practice or bigamy in general.

[23:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “while she was under me.” The expression indicates that Oholah is viewed as the Lord’s wife. See Num 5:19-20, 29.

[23:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Assyria.”

[23:5]  ¹⁸ tn The term apparently refers to Assyrian military officers; it is better construed with the description that follows. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:738.

[23:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “lusted after.”

[23:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and poured out their harlotry on her.”