Hosea 6:4

Transitory Faithfulness and Imminent Judgment

6:4 What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim?

What am I going to do with you, O Judah?

For ¹  your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist; ² 

it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew! ³ 

Jeremiah 9:7

9:7 Therefore the Lord who rules over all says, ⁴ 

“I will now purify them in the fires of affliction ⁵  and test them.

The wickedness of my dear people ⁶  has left me no choice.

What else can I do? ⁷ 

Lamentations 3:33

3:33 For he is not predisposed to afflict ⁸ 

or to grieve people. ⁹ 

Matthew 23:37

Judgment on Israel

23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ¹⁰  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ¹¹  How often I have longed ¹²  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ¹³  you would have none of it! ¹⁴ 

Luke 19:41-42

Jesus Weeps for Jerusalem under Judgment

19:41 Now ¹⁵  when Jesus ¹⁶  approached ¹⁷  and saw the city, he wept over it, 19:42 saying, “If you had only known on this day, ¹⁸  even you, the things that make for peace! ¹⁹  But now they are hidden ²⁰  from your eyes.

[6:4]  ¹ tn The vav prefixed to וְחַסְדְּכֶם (vÿkhasdÿkhem, “your faithfulness”) functions in an explanatory sense (“For”).

[6:4]  ² tn Heb “your faithfulness [so NCV; NASB “your loyalty”; NIV, NRSV, NLT “your love”] is like a morning cloud” (וְחַסְדְּכֶם כַּעֲנַן־בֹּקֶר, vÿkhasdÿkhem ka’anan-boqer).

[6:4]  ³ tn Heb “the dew departing early” (BDB 1014 s.v. שָׁכַם); cf. NRSV “the dew that goes away early.” The Hiphil participle מַשְׁכִּים (mashkim) means “to depart early” (Gen 19:27; Josh 8:14; Judg 19:9). The idiom means “early morning” (1 Sam 17:16).

[9:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[9:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will refine/purify them.” The words “in the fires of affliction” are supplied in the translation to give clarity to the metaphor.

[9:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[9:7]  ⁷ tc Heb “For how else shall I deal because of the wickedness of the daughter of my people.” The MT does not have the word “wickedness.” The word, however, is read in the Greek version. This is probably a case of a word dropping out because of its similarities to the consonants preceding or following it (i.e., haplography). The word “wickedness” (רַעַת, ra’at) has dropped out before the words “my dear people” (בַּת־עַמִּי, bat-’ammi). The causal nuance which is normal for מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne) does not make sense without some word like this, and the combination of רַעַת מִפְּנֵי (mippÿne ra’at) does occur in Jer 7:12 and one very like it occurs in Jer 26:3.

[3:33]  ⁸ tn Heb “he does not afflict from his heart.” The term לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) preceded by the preposition מִן (min) most often describes one’s initiative or motivation, e.g. “of one’s own accord” (Num. 16:28; 24:13; Deut. 4:9; 1Kings 12:33; Neh. 6:8; Job 8:10; Is. 59:13; Ezek. 13:2, 17). It is not God’s internal motivation to bring calamity and trouble upon people.

[3:33]  ⁹ tn Heb “sons of men.”

[23:37]  ¹⁰ sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.

[23:37]  ¹¹ tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your… you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill… sent to you”).

[23:37]  ¹² sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.

[23:37]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[23:37]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “you were not willing.”

[19:41]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[19:41]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “he.”

[19:41]  ¹⁷ sn When Jesus approached and saw the city. This is the last travel note in Luke’s account (the so-called Jerusalem journey), as Jesus approached and saw the city before entering it.

[19:42]  ¹⁸ sn On this day. They had missed the time of Messiah’s coming; see v. 44.

[19:42]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the things toward peace.” This expression seems to mean “the things that would ‘lead to,’ ‘bring about,’ or ‘make for’ peace.”

[19:42]  ²⁰ sn But now they are hidden from your eyes. This becomes an oracle of doom in the classic OT sense; see Luke 13:31-35; 11:49-51; Jer 9:2; 13:7; 14:7. They are now blind and under judgment (Jer 15:5; Ps 122:6).