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 

Hosea 8:14

8:14 Israel has forgotten his Maker and built royal palaces,

and Judah has built many fortified cities.

But I will send fire on their cities;

it will consume their royal citadels.

Hosea 11:7

11:7 My people are obsessed ⁴  with turning away from me; ⁵ 

they call to Baal, ⁶  but he will never exalt them!

Psalms 78:37

78:37 They were not really committed to him, ⁷ 

and they were unfaithful to his covenant.

Jeremiah 3:10

3:10 In spite of all this, ⁸  Israel’s sister, unfaithful Judah, has not turned back to me with any sincerity; she has only pretended to do so,” ⁹  says the Lord.

Luke 8:13

8:13 Those ¹⁰  on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, ¹¹  but ¹²  in a time of testing ¹³  fall away. ¹⁴ 

Luke 11:24-26

Response to Jesus’ Work

11:24 “When an unclean spirit ¹⁵  goes out of a person, ¹⁶  it passes through waterless places ¹⁷  looking for rest but ¹⁸  not finding any. Then ¹⁹  it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’ ²⁰  11:25 When it returns, ²¹  it finds the house ²²  swept clean and put in order. ²³  11:26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so ²⁴  the last state of that person ²⁵  is worse than the first.” ²⁶ 

[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).

[11:7]  ⁴ tn The term תְלוּאִים (tÿlu’im, Qal passive participle masculine plural from תָּלָא, tala’, “to hang”) literally means “[My people] are hung up” (BDB 1067 s.v. תָּלָא). The verb תָּלָא//תָּלָה (“to hang”) is often used in a concrete sense to describe hanging an item on a peg (Ps 137:2; Song 4:4; Isa 22:24; Ezek 15:3; 27:10) or the impaling of the body of an executed criminal (Gen 40:19, 22; 41:13; Deut 21:22, 23; Josh 8:29; 10:26; 2 Sam 21:12; Esth 2:23; 5:14; 6:4; 7:9, 10; 8:7; 9:13, 14, 25). It is used figuratively here to describe Israel’s moral inability to detach itself from apostasy. Several English versions capture the sense well: “My people are bent on turning away from me” (RSV, NASB), “My people are determined to turn from me” (NIV), “My people are determined to reject me” (CEV; NLT “desert me”), “My people persist in its defection from me” (NJPS), and “they insist on turning away from me” (TEV).

[11:7]  ⁵ tn The 1st person common singular suffix on the noun מְשׁוּבָתִי (mÿshuvati; literally, “turning of me”) functions as an objective genitive: “turning away from me.”

[11:7]  ⁶ tc The meaning and syntax of the MT is enigmatic: וְאֶל־עַל יִקְרָאֻהוּ (vÿ’el-’al yiqra’uhu, “they call upwards to him”). Many English versions including KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT take the referent of “him” as the “most High.” The BHS editors suggest reading וְאֶל־בַּעַל יִקְרָא וְהוּא (vÿ’el-ba’al yiqra’ vehu’, “they call to Baal, but he…”), connecting the 3rd person masculine singular independent personal pronoun וְהוּא (vÿhu’, “but he…”) with the following clause. The early Greek recensions (Aquila and Symmachus), as well as the Aramaic Targum and the Vulgate, vocalized עֹל (’ol) as “yoke” (as in 11:4): “they cry out because of [their] yoke” (a reading followed by TEV).

[78:37]  ⁷ tn Heb “and their heart was not firm with him.”

[3:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “And even in all this.”

[3:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “ has not turned back to me with all her heart but only in falsehood.”

[8:13]  ¹⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:13]  ¹¹ sn This time of temporary faith represented by the description believe for a while is presented rather tragically in the passage. The seed does not get a chance to do all it can.

[8:13]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[8:13]  ¹³ tn Traditionally, “temptation.” Such a translation puts the emphasis on temptation to sin rather than testing of faith, which is what the context seems to indicate.

[8:13]  ¹⁴ sn Fall away. On the idea of falling away and the warnings against it, see 2 Tim 3:1; Heb 3:12; Jer 3:14; Dan 9:9.

[11:24]  ¹⁵ sn This is a reference to an evil spirit. See Luke 4:33.

[11:24]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “man.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females.

[11:24]  ¹⁷ sn The background for the reference to waterless places is not entirely clear, though some Jewish texts suggest spirits must have a place to dwell, but not with water (Luke 8:29-31; Tob 8:3). Some suggest that the image of the desert or deserted cities as the places demons dwell is where this idea started (Isa 13:21; 34:14).

[11:24]  ¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[11:24]  ¹⁹ tc ‡ Most mss, including a few early and important ones (Ì⁴⁵ א* A C D W Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï lat), lack τότε (tote, “then”). Other mss, including some early and important ones (Ì⁷⁵ א² B L Θ Ξ 070 33 579 892 1241 pc co), have the adverb. Although the external evidence better supports the longer reading, the internal evidence is on the side of the shorter, for conjunctions and adverbs were frequently added by copyists to remove asyndeton and to add clarification. The shorter reading is thus preferred. The translation, however, adds “Then” because of English stylistic requirements. NA²⁷ has τότε in brackets indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[11:24]  ²⁰ tn Grk “I will return to my house from which I came.”

[11:25]  ²¹ tn Grk “comes.”

[11:25]  ²² tn The words “the house” are not in Greek but are implied.

[11:25]  ²³ sn The image of the house swept clean and put in order refers to the life of the person from whom the demon departed. The key to the example appears to be that no one else has been invited in to dwell. If an exorcism occurs and there is no response to God, then the way is free for the demon to return. Some see the reference to exorcism as more symbolic; thus the story’s only point is about responding to Jesus. This is possible and certainly is an application of the passage.

[11:26]  ²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the concluding point of the story.

[11:26]  ²⁵ tn Grk “man.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females.

[11:26]  ²⁶ sn The point of the story is that to fail to respond is to risk a worse fate than when one started.