Discovery BoxHosea 4:17-18
Context4:17 Ephraim has attached himself to idols;
Do not go near him!
4:18 They consume their alcohol,
then engage in cult prostitution;
they dearly love their shameful behavior.
Hosea 4:1
Context4:1 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites! 1
For the Lord has a covenant lawsuit 2 against the people of Israel. 3
For there is neither faithfulness nor loyalty in the land,
nor do they acknowledge God. 4
Hosea 12:1
Context12:1 Ephraim continually feeds on the wind;
he chases the east wind all day;
he multiplies lies and violence.
They make treaties 5 with Assyria,
and send olive oil as tribute 6 to Egypt.
Hosea 14:1
Context14:1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for your sin has been your downfall! 7
Ezekiel 23:5-21
Context23:5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. 8 She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians 9 – warriors 10 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 11 – 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. 12 23:9 Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians 13 for whom she lusted. 23:10 They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious 14 among women, and they executed judgments against her.
23:11 “Her sister Oholibah watched this, 15 but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister. 23:12 She lusted after the Assyrians – governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 23:13 I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path. 23:14 But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red, 16 23:15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians 17 whose native land is Chaldea. 23:16 When she saw them, 18 she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 19 23:17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. 20 They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she 21 became disgusted with them. 23:18 When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, 22 I 23 was disgusted with her, just as I 24 had been disgusted with her sister. 23:19 Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. 23:20 She lusted after their genitals – as large as those of donkeys, 25 and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions. 23:21 This is how you assessed 26 the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled 27 your nipples and squeezed 28 your young breasts.
[4:1] 1 tn Heb “sons of Israel” (so NASB); KJV “children of Israel”; NAB, NRSV “people of Israel.”
[4:1] 2 tn The noun רִיב (riv, “dispute, lawsuit”) is used in two contexts: (1) nonlegal contexts: (a) “dispute” between individuals (e.g., Gen 13:7; Isa 58:1; Jer 15:10) or (b) “brawl; quarrel” between people (e.g., Exod 17:7; Deut 25:1); and (2) legal contexts: (a) “lawsuit; legal process” (e.g., Exod 23:3-6; Deut 19:17; 21:5; Ezek 44:24; Ps 35:23), (b) “lawsuit; legal case” (e.g., Deut 1:12; 17:8; Prov 18:17; 25:9), and (c) God’s “lawsuit” on behalf of a person or against his own people (Hos 4:1; 12:3; Mic 6:2; HALOT 1225-26 s.v. רִיב). The term in Hosea refers to a covenant lawsuit in which Yahweh the suzerain lodges a legal case against his disobedient vassal, accusing Israel and Judah of breach of covenant which will elicit the covenant curses.
[4:1] 3 tn Heb “with the inhabitants of the land” (so KJV); NAB, NASB, NRSV “against the inhabitants of the land.”
[4:1] 4 tn Heb “there is no truthfulness nor loyalty nor knowledge of God in the land.” Here “knowledge of God” refers to recognition of his authority and obedience to his will.
[12:1] 5 tn Heb “a treaty” (so NIV, NRSV); KJV, NASB “a covenant”; NAB “comes to terms.”
[12:1] 6 tn The phrase “as tribute” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. NCV “send a gift of olive oil.”
[14:1] 7 tn Heb “For you have stumbled in your iniquity”; NASB, NRSV “because of your iniquity.”
[23:5] 8 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] 10 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] 11 tn Heb “lusted after.”
[23:8] 12 tn Heb “and poured out their harlotry on her.”
[23:9] 13 tn Heb “I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the sons of Assyria.”
[23:11] 15 tn The word “this” is not in the original text.
[23:14] 16 tn The only other occurrence of the Hebrew term is in Jer 22:14.
[23:15] 17 tn Heb “the sons of Babel.”
[23:16] 18 tn Heb “at the appearance of her eyes.”
[23:16] 19 sn The Chaldeans were prominent tribal groups of Babylonia. The imagery is reminiscent of events in the reigns of Hezekiah (2 Kgs 20:12-15) and Jehoiakim (2 Kgs 23:34-24:1).
[23:17] 20 tn Heb “The sons of Babel came to her on a bed of love.”
[23:18] 22 tn Heb “She exposed her harlotry and she exposed her nakedness.”
[23:20] 25 tn Heb “She lusted after their concubines (?) whose flesh was the flesh of donkeys.” The phrase “their concubines” is extremely problematic here. The pronoun is masculine plural, suggesting that the Egyptian men are in view, but how concubines would fit into the picture envisioned here is not clear. Some suggest that Ezekiel uses the term in an idiomatic sense of “paramour,” but this still fails to explain how the pronoun relates to the noun. It is more likely that the term refers here to the Egyptians’ genitals. The relative pronoun that follows introduces a more specific description of their genitals.
[23:21] 26 tn Or “you took note of.” The Hebrew verb פָּקַד (paqad) in the Qal implies evaluating something and then acting in light of that judgment; here the prophet depicts Judah as approving of her youthful unfaithfulness and then magnifying it at the present time. Some translations assume the verb should be repointed as a Niphal, rendering “you missed” or by extension “you longed for,” but such an extension of the Niphal “to be missing” is otherwise unattested.
[23:21] 27 tn Heb “when (they) did,” but the verb makes no sense here and is better emended to “when (they) fondled,” a verb used in vv. 3 and 8. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:43.
[23:21] 28 tn Heb “for the sake of,” but the expression is awkward and is better emended to read “to squeeze.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:43.
