Hosea 5:15--6:1

5:15 Then I will return again to my lair

until they have suffered their punishment. ¹ 

Then they will seek me; ² 

in their distress they will earnestly seek me.

Superficial Repentance Breeds False Assurance of God’s Forgiveness

6:1 “Come on! Let’s return to the Lord!

He himself has torn us to pieces,

but he will heal us!

He has injured ³  us,

but he will bandage our wounds!

Hosea 14:1

Prophetic Call to Genuine Repentance

14:1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

for your sin has been your downfall! ⁴ 

Psalms 116:7

116:7 Rest once more, my soul, ⁵ 

for the Lord has vindicated you. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 3:22-25

3:22 Come back to me, you wayward people.

I want to cure your waywardness. ⁷ 

Say, ⁸  ‘Here we are. We come to you

because you are the Lord our God.

3:23 We know our noisy worship of false gods

on the hills and mountains did not help us. ⁹ 

We know that the Lord our God

is the only one who can deliver Israel. ¹⁰ 

3:24 From earliest times our worship of that shameful god, Baal,

has taken away ¹¹  all that our ancestors ¹²  worked for.

It has taken away our flocks and our herds,

and even our sons and daughters.

3:25 Let us acknowledge ¹³  our shame.

Let us bear the disgrace that we deserve. ¹⁴ 

For we have sinned against the Lord our God,

both we and our ancestors.

From earliest times to this very day

we have not obeyed the Lord our God.’

Jeremiah 31:18

31:18 I have indeed ¹⁵  heard the people of Israel ¹⁶  say mournfully,

‘We were like a calf untrained to the yoke. ¹⁷ 

You disciplined us and we learned from it. ¹⁸ 

Let us come back to you and we will do so, ¹⁹ 

for you are the Lord our God.

Jeremiah 50:4-5

50:4 “When that time comes,” says the Lord, ²⁰ 

“the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together.

They will come back with tears of repentance

as they seek the Lord their God. ²¹ 

50:5 They will ask the way to Zion;

they will turn their faces toward it.

They will come ²²  and bind themselves to the Lord

in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten. ²³ 

Lamentations 3:40-42

נ (Nun)

3:40 Let us carefully examine our ways, ²⁴ 

and let us return to the Lord.

3:41 Let us lift up our hearts ²⁵  and our hands

to God in heaven:

3:42 “We ²⁶  have blatantly rebelled; ²⁷ 

you ²⁸  have not forgiven.”

Luke 15:17-20

15:17 But when he came to his senses ²⁹  he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food ³⁰  enough to spare, but here I am dying from hunger! 15:18 I will get up and go to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned ³¹  against heaven ³²  and against ³³  you. 15:19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me ³⁴  like one of your hired workers.”’ 15:20 So ³⁵  he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way from home ³⁶  his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; ³⁷  he ran and hugged ³⁸  his son ³⁹  and kissed him.

[5:15]  ¹ tn The verb יֶאְשְׁמוּ (ye’shÿmu, Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine plural from אָשַׁם, ’asham, “to be guilty”) means “to bear their punishment” (Ps 34:22-23; Prov 30:10; Isa 24:6; Jer 2:3; Hos 5:15; 10:2; 14:1; Zech 11:5; Ezek 6:6; BDB 79 s.v. אָשַׁם 3). Many English versions translate this as “admit their guilt” (NIV, NLT) or “acknowledge their guilt” (NASB, NRSV), but cf. NAB “pay for their guilt” and TEV “have suffered enough for their sins.”

[5:15]  ² tn Heb “seek my face” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “seek my presence.”

[6:1]  ³ tn “has struck”; NRSV “struck down.”

[14:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “For you have stumbled in your iniquity”; NASB, NRSV “because of your iniquity.”

[116:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “return, my soul, to your place of rest.”

[116:7]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew idiom גָּמַל עַל (gamal ’al) means “to repay,” here in a positive sense (cf. Ps 13:5).

[3:22]  ⁷ tn Or “I will forgive your apostasies.” Heb “I will [or want to] heal your apostasies.” For the use of the verb “heal” (רָפָא, rafa’) to refer to spiritual healing and forgiveness see Hos 14:4.

[3:22]  ⁸ tn Or “They say.” There is an obvious ellipsis of a verb of saying here since the preceding words are those of the Lord and the following are those of the people. However, there is debate about whether these are the response of the people to the Lord’s invitation, a response which is said to be inadequate according to the continuation in 4:1-4, or whether these are the Lord’s model for Israel’s confession of repentance to which he adds further instructions about the proper heart attitude that should accompany it in 4:1-4. The former implies a dialogue with an unmarked twofold shift in speaker between 3:22b-25 and 4:1-4:4 while the latter assumes the same main speaker throughout with an unmarked instruction only in 3:22b-25. This disrupts the flow of the passage less and appears more likely.

[3:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “Truly in vain from the hills the noise/commotion [and from] the mountains.” The syntax of the Hebrew sentence is very elliptical here.

[3:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Truly in the Lord our God is deliverance for Israel.”

[3:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “From our youth the shameful thing has eaten up…” The shameful thing is specifically identified as Baal in Jer 11:13. Compare also the shift in certain names such as Ishbaal (“man of Baal”) to Ishbosheth (“man of shame”).

[3:24]  ¹² tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 25).

[3:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “Let us lie down in….”

[3:25]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Let us be covered with disgrace.”

[31:18]  ¹⁵ tn The use of “indeed” is intended to reflect the infinitive absolute which precedes the verb for emphasis (see IBHS 585-86 §35.3.1f).

[31:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Ephraim.” See the study note on 31:9. The more familiar term is used, the term “people” added to it, and plural pronouns used throughout the verse to aid in understanding.

[31:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “like an untrained calf.” The metaphor is that of a calf who has never been broken to bear the yoke (cf. Hos 4:16; 10:11).

[31:18]  ¹⁸ tn The verb here is from the same root as the preceding and is probably an example of the “tolerative Niphal,” i.e., “I let myself be disciplined/I responded to it.” See IBHS 389-90 §23.4g and note the translation of some of the examples there, especially Isa 19:22; 65:1.

[31:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Bring me back in order that I may come back.” For the use of the plural pronouns see the marginal note at the beginning of the verse. The verb “bring back” and “come back” are from the same root in two different verbal stems and in the context express the idea of spiritual repentance and restoration of relationship not physical return to the land. (See BDB 999 s.v. שׁוּב Hiph.2.a for the first verb and 997 s.v. Qal.6.c for the second.) For the use of the cohortative to express purpose after the imperative see GKC 320 §108.d or IBHS 575 §34.5.2b.

[50:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[50:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “and the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together. They shall go, weeping as they go, and they will seek the Lord their God.” The concept of “seeking” the Lord often has to do with seeking the Lord in worship (by sacrifice [Hos 5:6; 2 Chr 11:16]; prayer [Zech 8:21, 22; 2 Sam 12:16; Isa 65:1; 2 Chr 15:4]). In Hos 7:10 it is in parallel with returning to the Lord. In Ps 69:6 it is in parallel with hoping in or trusting in the Lord. Perhaps the most helpful parallels here, however, are Hos 3:5 (in comparison with Jer 30:9) and 2 Chr 15:15 where it is in the context of a covenant commitment to be loyal to the Lord which is similar to the context here (see the next verse). The translation is admittedly paraphrastic but “seeking the Lord” does not mean here looking for God as though he were merely a person to be found.

[50:5]  ²² tc The translation here assumes that the Hebrew בֹּאוּ (bo’u; a Qal imperative masculine plural) should be read בָּאוּ (ba’u; a Qal perfect third plural). This reading is presupposed by the Greek version of Aquila, the Latin version, and the Targum (see BHS note a, which mistakenly assumes that the form must be imperfect).

[50:5]  ²³ sn See Jer 32:40 and the study note there for the nature of this lasting agreement.

[3:40]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Let us test our ways and examine.” The two verbs וְנַחְקֹרָה…נַחְפְּשָׂה (nakhpÿsah…vÿnakhqorah, “Let us test and let us examine”) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal force: “Let us carefully examine our ways.”

[3:41]  ²⁵ tc The MT reads the singular noun לְבָבֵנוּ (lÿvavenu, “our heart”) but the ancient versions (LXX, Aramaic Targum, Latin Vulgate) and many medieval Hebrew mss read the plural noun לְבָבֵינוּ (lÿvavenu, “our hearts”). Hebrew regularly places plural pronouns on singular nouns used as a collective (135 times on the singular “heart” and only twice on the plural “hearts”). The plural “hearts” in any Hebrew construction is actually rather rare. The LXX renders similar Hebrew constructions (singular “heart” plus a plural pronoun) with the plural “hearts” about 1/3 of the time, therefore it cannot be considered evidence for the reading. The Vulgate may have been influenced by the LXX. Although a distributive sense is appropriate for a much higher percentage of passages using the plural “hearts” in the LXX, no clear reason for the differentiation in the LXX has emerged. Likely the singular Hebrew form is original but the meaning is best represented in English with the plural.

[3:42]  ²⁶ tn The Heb emphasiszes the pronoun “We – we have sinned….” Given the contrast with the following, it means “For our part, we have sinned….” A poetic reading in English would place vocal emphasis on “we” followed by a short pause.

[3:42]  ²⁷ tn Heb “We have revolted and we have rebelled.” The two verbs פָשַׁעְנוּ וּמָרִינוּ (pasha’nu umarinu, “we have revolted and we have rebelled”) form a verbal hendiadys in which the synonyms emphasize the single idea.

[3:42]  ²⁸ tn The Heb emphasiszes the pronoun “You – you have not forgiven.” Given the contrast with the preceding, it means “For your part, you have not forgiven.” A poetic reading in English would place vocal emphasis on “you” followed by a short pause.

[15:17]  ²⁹ tn Grk “came to himself” (an idiom).

[15:17]  ³⁰ tn Grk “bread,” but used figuratively for food of any kind (L&N 5.1).

[15:18]  ³¹ sn In the confession “I have sinned” there is a recognition of wrong that pictures the penitent coming home and “being found.”

[15:18]  ³² sn The phrase against heaven is a circumlocution for God.

[15:18]  ³³ tn According to BDAG 342 s.v. ἐνωπιον 4.a, “in relation to ἁμαρτάνειν ἐ. τινος sin against someone Lk 15:18, 21 (cf. Jdth 5:17; 1 Km 7:6; 20:1).”

[15:19]  ³⁴ tn Or “make me.” Here is a sign of total humility.

[15:20]  ³⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the son’s decision to return home. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.

[15:20]  ³⁶ tn Grk “a long way off from [home].” The word “home” is implied (L&N 85.16).

[15:20]  ³⁷ tn Or “felt great affection for him,” “felt great pity for him.”

[15:20]  ³⁸ tn Grk “he fell on his neck,” an idiom for showing special affection for someone by throwing one’s arms around them. The picture is of the father hanging on the son’s neck in welcome.

[15:20]  ³⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the son) has been specified in the translation for clarity.