Hosea 4:3

4:3 Therefore the land will mourn,

and all its inhabitants will perish. ¹ 

The wild animals, ²  the birds of the sky,

and even the fish in the sea will perish.

Hosea 1:10

The Restoration of Israel

1:10 (2:1) ³  However, ⁴  in the future the number of the people ⁵  of Israel will be like the sand of the sea which can be neither measured nor numbered. Although ⁶  it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it will be said to them, “You are ⁷  children ⁸  of the living God!”

[4:3]  ¹ tn Or “languish” (so KJV, NRSV); NIV “waste away.”

[4:3]  ² tn Heb “the beasts of the field” (so NAB, NIV).

[1:10]  ³ sn Beginning with 1:10, the verse numbers through 2:23 in the English Bible differ by two from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 1:10 ET = 2:1 HT, 1:11 ET = 2:2 HT, 2:1 ET = 2:3 HT, etc., through 2:23 ET = 2:25 HT. Beginning with 3:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

[1:10]  ⁴ tn The vav prefixed to וְהָיָה (véhaya) functions in an adversative sense: “however” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 71, §432).

[1:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV “the children”; NAB, NIV “the Israelites.”

[1:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the place” (בִּמְקוֹם, bimqom). BDB 880 s.v. מָקוֹם 7.b suggests that בִּמְקוֹם (preposition בְּ, bet, + noun מָקוֹם, maqom) is an idiom carrying a concessive sense: “instead of” (e.g., Isa 33:21; Hos 2:1). However, HALOT suggests that it functions in a locative sense: “in the same place” (HALOT 626 s.v. מָקוֹם 2b; e.g., 1 Kgs 21:19; Isa 33:21; Hos 2:1).

[1:10]  ⁷ tn The predicate nominative, “You are…,” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “sons” (so KJV, NASB, NIV).