Hosea 7:8

Israel Lacks Discernment and Refuses to Repent

7:8 Ephraim has mixed itself like flour ¹  among the nations;

Ephraim is like a ruined cake of bread that is scorched on one side. ² 

Hosea 7:1

7:1 whenever I want to heal Israel,

the sin of Ephraim is revealed,

and the evil deeds of Samaria are exposed.

For they do what is wrong;

thieves break into houses,

and gangs rob people out in the streets.

Hosea 1:1

Superscription

1:1 ³ This is the word of the Lord which was revealed to Hosea ⁴  son of Beeri during the time when ⁵  Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah ruled Judah, ⁶  and during the time when Jeroboam son of Joash ⁷  ruled Israel. ⁸ 

Isaiah 44:18

44:18 They do not comprehend or understand,

for their eyes are blind and cannot see;

their minds do not discern. ⁹ 

Zephaniah 1:5

1:5 I will remove ¹⁰  those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, ¹¹ 

those who swear allegiance to the Lord ¹²  while taking oaths in the name of ¹³  their ‘king,’ ¹⁴ 

Matthew 6:24

6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate ¹⁵  the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise ¹⁶  the other. You cannot serve God and money. ¹⁷ 

Luke 16:13

16:13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate ¹⁸  the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise ¹⁹  the other. You cannot serve God and money.” ²⁰ 

Luke 16:2

16:2 So ²¹  he called the manager ²²  in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? ²³  Turn in the account of your administration, ²⁴  because you can no longer be my manager.’

Luke 2:11-12

2:11 Today ²⁵  your Savior is born in the city ²⁶  of David. ²⁷  He is Christ ²⁸  the Lord. 2:12 This ²⁹  will be a sign ³⁰  for you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.” ³¹ 

James 1:8

1:8 since he is a double-minded individual, ³²  unstable in all his ways.

James 4:4

4:4 Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? ³³  So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy.

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ³⁴  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ³⁵  from your passions that battle inside you? ³⁶ 

James 2:15

2:15 If a brother or sister ³⁷  is poorly clothed and lacks daily food,

Revelation 3:15-16

3:15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. ³⁸  I wish you were either cold or hot! 3:16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going ³⁹  to vomit ⁴⁰  you out of my mouth!

[7:8]  ¹ tn The words “like flour” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied by the imagery.

[7:8]  ² tn Heb “a cake of bread not turned.” This metaphor compares Ephraim to a ruined cake of bread that was not turned over in time to avoid being scorched and burned (see BDB 728 s.v. עֻגָה). Cf. NLT “as worthless as a half-baked cake.”

[1:1]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”

[1:1]  ⁷ sn Joash is a variation of the name Jehoash. Some English versions use “Jehoash” here (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT).

[1:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel.”

[44:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “for their eyes are smeared over so they cannot see, so their heart cannot be wise.”

[1:5]  ¹⁰ tn The words “I will remove” are repeated from v. 4b for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 4b-6 contain a long list of objects for the verb “I will remove” in v. 4b. In the present translation a new sentence was begun at the beginning of v. 5 in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences.

[1:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “those who worship on their roofs the host of heaven.” The “host of heaven” included the sun, moon, planets, and stars, all of which were deified in the ancient Near East.

[1:5]  ¹² tc The MT reads, “those who worship, those who swear allegiance to the Lord.” The original form of the LXX omits the phrase “those who worship”; it may have been accidentally repeated from the preceding line. J. J. M. Roberts prefers to delete as secondary the phrase “those who swear allegiance” (J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah [OTL], 168).

[1:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “those who swear by.”

[1:5]  ¹⁴ tn The referent of “their king” is unclear. It may refer sarcastically to a pagan god (perhaps Baal) worshiped by the people. Some English versions (cf. NEB, NASB, NRSV) prefer to emend the text to “Milcom,” the name of an Ammonite god (following some LXX mss, Syriac, and Vulgate) or “Molech,” a god to whom the Israelites offered their children (cf. NIV, NLT). For a discussion of the options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 75-77.

[6:24]  ¹⁵ sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.

[6:24]  ¹⁶ tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”

[6:24]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “God and mammon.”

[16:13]  ¹⁸ sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.

[16:13]  ¹⁹ tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”

[16:13]  ²⁰ tn Grk “God and mammon.” This is the same word (μαμωνᾶς, mamwnas; often merely transliterated as “mammon”) translated “worldly wealth” in vv. 9, 11.

[16:2]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the reports the man received about his manager.

[16:2]  ²² tn Grk “him”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:2]  ²³ sn Although phrased as a question, the charges were believed by the owner, as his dismissal of the manager implies.

[16:2]  ²⁴ tn Or “stewardship”; the Greek word οἰκονομία (oikonomia) is cognate with the noun for the manager (οἰκονόμος, oikonomo").

[2:11]  ²⁵ sn The Greek word for today (σήμερον, shmeron) occurs eleven times in the Gospel of Luke (2:11; 4:21; 5:26; 12:28; 13:32-33; 19:5, 9; 22:34, 61; 23:43) and nine times in Acts. Its use, especially in passages such as 2:11, 4:21, 5:26; 19:5, 9, signifies the dawning of the era of messianic salvation and the fulfillment of the plan of God. Not only does it underscore the idea of present fulfillment in Jesus’ ministry, but it also indicates salvific fulfillment present in the church (cf. Acts 1:6; 3:18; D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:412; I. H. Marshall, Luke, [NIGTC], 873).

[2:11]  ²⁶ tn Or “town.” See the note on “city” in v. 4.

[2:11]  ²⁷ tn This is another indication of a royal, messianic connection.

[2:11]  ²⁸ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[2:12]  ²⁹ tn Grk “And this.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[2:12]  ³⁰ sn The sign functions for the shepherds like Elizabeth’s conception served for Mary in 1:36.

[2:12]  ³¹ tn Or “a feeding trough,” see Luke 2:7.

[1:8]  ³² tn Grk “a man of two minds,” continuing the description of the person in v. 7, giving the reason that he cannot expect to receive anything. The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).

[4:4]  ³³ tn Grk “is hostility toward God.”

[4:1]  ³⁴ tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ³⁵ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ³⁶ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”

[2:15]  ³⁷ tn It is important to note that the words ἀδελφός (adelfos) and ἀδελφή (adelfh) both occur in the Greek text at this point, confirming that the author intended to refer to both men and women. See the note on “someone” in 2:2.

[3:15]  ³⁸ sn Laodicea was near two other towns, each of which had a unique water source. To the north was Hierapolis which had a natural hot spring, often used for medicinal purposes. To the east was Colossae which had cold, pure waters. In contrast to these towns, Laodicea had no permanent supply of good water. Efforts to pipe water to the city from nearby springs were successful, but it would arrive lukewarm. The metaphor in the text is not meant to relate spiritual fervor to temperature. This would mean that Laodicea would be commended for being spiritually cold, but it is unlikely that Jesus would commend this. Instead, the metaphor condemns Laodicea for not providing spiritual healing (being hot) or spiritual refreshment (being cold) to those around them. It is a condemnation of their lack of works and lack of witness.

[3:16]  ³⁹ tn Or “I intend.”

[3:16]  ⁴⁰ tn This is the literal meaning of the Greek verb ἐμέω (emew). It is usually translated with a much weaker term like “spit out” due to the unpleasant connotations of the English verb “vomit,” as noted by L&N 23.44. The situation confronting the Laodicean church is a dire one, however, and such a term is necessary if the modern reader is to understand the gravity of the situation.