Hosea 6:4

Context

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?

For¹ your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist;²

it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew!³

Hosea 9:1

Context

Fertility Cult Festivals Have Intoxicated Israel

9:1 O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly⁴ like the nations,

for you are unfaithful⁵ to your God.

You love to receive a prostitute's wages⁶

on all the floors where you thresh your grain.

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

[6:4] ²tn 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] ³tn 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).

[9:1] ⁴tn Heb “do not rejoice unto jubilation”; KJV “Rejoice not…for joy”; NASB “Do not rejoice…with exultation.”

[9:1] ⁵tn Heb “you have committed adultery”; NRSV “you have played the whore.”

[9:1] ⁶tn Heb “you love the wages of the prostitute” (NIV similar); NAB “loving a harlot’s hire.”