Hosea 5:13

5:13 When Ephraim saw ¹  his sickness

and Judah saw his wound,

then Ephraim turned ²  to Assyria,

and begged ³  its great king ⁴  for help.

But he will not be able to heal you!

He cannot cure your wound! ⁵ 

Hosea 5:2

5:2 Those who revolt are knee-deep in slaughter, ⁶ 

but I will discipline them all. ⁷ 

Hosea 1:1

Superscription

1:1 ⁸ This is the word of the Lord which was revealed to Hosea ⁹  son of Beeri during the time when ¹⁰  Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah ruled Judah, ¹¹  and during the time when Jeroboam son of Joash ¹²  ruled Israel. ¹³ 

Isaiah 30:2-3

30:2 They travel down to Egypt

without seeking my will, ¹⁴ 

seeking Pharaoh’s protection,

and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade. ¹⁵ 

30:3 But Pharaoh’s protection will bring you nothing but shame,

and the safety of Egypt’s protective shade nothing but humiliation.

Isaiah 30:16

30:16 You say, ‘No, we will flee on horses,’

so you will indeed flee.

You say, ‘We will ride on fast horses,’

so your pursuers will be fast.

Isaiah 31:1-3

Egypt Will Disappoint

31:1 Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead, ¹⁶ 

those who rely on war horses,

and trust in Egypt’s many chariots ¹⁷ 

and in their many, many horsemen. ¹⁸ 

But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel ¹⁹ 

and do not seek help from the Lord.

31:2 Yet he too is wise ²⁰  and he will bring disaster;

he does not retract his decree. ²¹ 

He will attack the wicked nation, ²² 

and the nation that helps ²³  those who commit sin. ²⁴ 

31:3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;

their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.

The Lord will strike with ²⁵  his hand;

the one who helps will stumble

and the one being helped will fall.

Together they will perish. ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 2:28

2:28 But where are the gods you made for yourselves?

Let them save you when you are in trouble.

The sad fact is that ²⁷  you have as many gods

as you have towns, Judah.

Jeremiah 2:36-37

2:36 Why do you constantly go about

changing your political allegiances? ²⁸ 

You will get no help from Egypt

just as you got no help from Assyria. ²⁹ 

2:37 Moreover, you will come away from Egypt

with your hands covering your faces in sorrow and shame ³⁰ 

because the Lord will not allow your reliance on them to be successful

and you will not gain any help from them. ³¹ 

Jeremiah 30:12-15

The Lord Will Heal the Wounds of Judah

30:12 Moreover, ³²  the Lord says to the people of Zion, ³³ 

“Your injuries are incurable;

your wounds are severe. ³⁴ 

30:13 There is no one to plead your cause.

There are no remedies for your wounds. ³⁵ 

There is no healing for you.

30:14 All your allies have abandoned you. ³⁶ 

They no longer have any concern for you.

For I have attacked you like an enemy would.

I have chastened you cruelly.

For your wickedness is so great

and your sin is so much. ³⁷ 

30:15 Why do you complain about your injuries,

that your pain is incurable?

I have done all this to you

because your wickedness is so great

and your sin is so much.

Ezekiel 20:32

20:32 “‘What you plan ³⁸  will never happen. You say, “We will be ³⁹  like the nations, like the clans of the lands, who serve gods of wood and stone.” ⁴⁰ 

Ezekiel 23:22

23:22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, ⁴¹  I am about to stir up against you the lovers with whom you were disgusted; I will bring them against you from every side:

[5:13]  ¹ tn Hosea employs three preterites (vayyiqtol forms) in verse 13a-b to describe a past-time situation.

[5:13]  ² tn Heb “went to” (so NAB, NRSV, TEV); CEV “asked help from.”

[5:13]  ³ tn Heb “sent to” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[5:13]  ⁴ tc The MT reads מֶלֶךְ יָרֵב (melekh yarev, “a contentious king”). This is translated as a proper name (“king Jareb”) by KJV, ASV, NASB. However, the stative adjective יָרֵב (“contentious”) is somewhat awkward. The words should be redivided as an archaic genitive-construct מַלְכִּי רָב (malki rav, “great king”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) which preserves the old genitive hireq yod ending. This is the equivalent of the Assyrian royal epithet sarru rabbu (“the great king”). See also the tc note on the same phrase in 10:6.

[5:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “your wound will not depart from you.”

[5:2]  ⁶ tc The MT reads וְשַׁחֲטָה שֵׂטִים הֶעְמִיקוּ (vÿshakhatah setim he’miqu): “and rebels have made deep the slaughter.” The BHS editors propose ושַׁחַת הַשִּׁטִּים הֶעְמִיקוּ (vÿshakhat hashittim he’miqu): “they have made the pit of Shittim [place of idolatry] deep” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT; see BDB 1006 s.v. שַׁחֲטָּה). This involves: (1) phonological confusion between the similar sounding consonants ת (tav) and ט (tet), (2) redivision of words to take ה (hey) as the article with הַשִּׁטִּים rather than feminine noun ending of וְשַׁחֲטָה, and (3) revocalization of הַשִּׁטִּים with the two daghesh fortes. Retaining the reading of the MT is preferable here.

[5:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “but I am discipline to all of them”; ASV “but I am a rebuker of them all.”

[1:1]  ⁸ tc The textual problems in Hosea are virtually unparalleled in the OT. The Masoretic Text (MT), represented by the Leningrad Codex (c. a.d. 1008), which served as the basis for both BHK and BHS, and the Aleppo Codex (c. a.d. 952), are textually corrupt by all accounts and have a multitude of scribal errors. Many medieval Masoretic mss preserve textual variants that differ from the Leningrad and Aleppo Codices. The Qumran materials (4QXII^c,d,g) contain numerous textual variants that differ from the MT; unfortunately, these texts are quite fragmentary (frequently in the very place that an important textual problem appears). The textual tradition and translation quality of the LXX and the early Greek recensions (Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion) is mixed; in some places they are inferior to the MT but in other places they preserve a better reading. The textual apparatus of BHK and BHS contains many proposed emendations based on the ancient versions (Greek, Syriac, Latin, Aramaic) that often appear to be superior readings than what is preserved in the MT. In numerous cases, the MT readings are so difficult morphologically, syntactically, and contextually that conservative conjectural emendations are necessary to make sense of the text. Most major English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, RSV, NEB, NAB, NASB, NIV, TEV, NKJV, NJPS, NJB, NRSV, REB, NCV, CEV, NLT) adopt (either occasionally or frequently) textual variants reflected in the versions and occasionally adopt conservative conjectural emendations proposed in BHK and/or BHS. However, many of the textual problems in Hosea are so difficult that the English versions frequently are split among themselves. With this in mind, the present translation of Hosea must necessarily be viewed as only preliminary. Further work on the text and translation of Hosea is needed, not only in terms of the NET Bible but in Hosea studies in general. The text of Hosea should be better clarified when the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project completes work on the book of Hosea. For further study of textual problems in Hosea, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:228-71.

[1:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “The word of the Lord which was to Hosea.” The words “This is” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in the days of” (again later in this verse). Cf. NASB “during the days of”; NIV “during the reigns of”; NLT “during the years when.”

[1:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”

[1:1]  ¹² sn Joash is a variation of the name Jehoash. Some English versions use “Jehoash” here (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT).

[1:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel.”

[30:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “those who go to descend to Egypt, but [of] my mouth they do not inquire.”

[30:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to seek protection in the protection of Pharaoh, and to seek refuge in the shade of Egypt.”

[31:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who go down to Egypt for help.”

[31:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and trust in chariots for they are many.”

[31:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and in horsemen for they are very strong [or “numerous”].”

[31:1]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[31:2]  ²⁰ sn This statement appears to have a sarcastic tone. The royal advisers who are advocating an alliance with Egypt think they are wise, but the Lord possesses wisdom as well and will thwart their efforts.

[31:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he does not turn aside [i.e., “retract”] his words”; NIV “does not take back his words.”

[31:2]  ²² tn Heb “and he will arise against the house of the wicked.”

[31:2]  ²³ sn That is, Egypt.

[31:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and against the help of the doers of sin.”

[31:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”

[31:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”

[2:28]  ²⁷ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki, “for, indeed”) contextually.

[2:36]  ²⁸ tn Heb “changing your way.” The translation follows the identification of the Hebrew verb here as a defective writing of a form (תֵּזְלִי [tezÿli] instead of תֵּאזְלִי [te’zÿli]) from a verb meaning “go/go about” (אָזַל [’azal]; cf. BDB 23 s.v. אָזַל). Most modern English versions, commentaries, and lexicons read it from a root meaning “to treat cheaply [or lightly]” (תָּזֵלִּי [tazelli] from the root זָלַל (zalal); cf. HALOT 261 s.v. זָלַל); hence, “Why do you consider it such a small matter to…”

[2:36]  ²⁹ tn Heb “You will be ashamed/disappointed by Egypt, just as you were ashamed/ disappointed by Assyria.”

[2:37]  ³⁰ tn Heb “with your hands on your head.” For the picture here see 2 Sam 13:19.

[2:37]  ³¹ tn Heb “The Lord has rejected those you trust in; you will not prosper by/from them.”

[30:12]  ³² tn The particle כִּי (ki) here is parallel to the one in v. 5 that introduces the first oracle. See the discussion in the translator’s note there.

[30:12]  ³³ tn The pronouns in vv. 10-17 are second feminine singular referring to a personified entity. That entity is identified in v. 17 as Zion, which here stands for the people of Zion.

[30:12]  ³⁴ sn The wounds to the body politic are those of the incursions from the enemy from the north referred to in Jer 4:6; 6:1 over which Jeremiah and even God himself have lamented (Jer 8:21; 10:19; 14:17). The enemy from the north has been identified as Babylon and has been identified as the agent of God’s punishment of his disobedient people (Jer 1:15; 4:6; 25:9).

[30:13]  ³⁵ tc The translation of these first two lines follows the redivision of the lines suggested in NIV and NRSV rather than that of the Masoretes who read, “There is no one who pleads your cause with reference to [your] wound.”

[30:14]  ³⁶ tn Heb “forgotten you.”

[30:14]  ³⁷ tn Heb “attacked you like…with the chastening of a cruel one because of the greatness of your iniquity [and because] your sins are many.” The sentence has been broken down to conform to contemporary English style and better poetic scansion.

[20:32]  ³⁸ tn Heb “what comes upon your mind.”

[20:32]  ³⁹ tn The Hebrew could also read: “Let us be.”

[20:32]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “serving wood and stone.”

[23:22]  ⁴¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.