Hosea 8:1

God Will Raise Up the Assyrians to Attack Israel

8:1 Sound the alarm! ¹ 

An eagle ²  looms over the temple of the Lord!

For they have broken their covenant with me, ³ 

and have rebelled against my law.

Hosea 8:10

8:10 Even though they have hired lovers among the nations, ⁴ 

I will soon gather them together for judgment. ⁵ 

Then ⁶  they will begin to waste away

under the oppression of a mighty king. ⁷ 

[8:1]  ¹ tn Heb “A horn unto your gums!”; NAB “A trumpet to your lips!”

[8:1]  ² tn Or perhaps “A vulture.” Some identify the species indicated by the Hebrew term נֶשֶׁר (nesher) as the griffon vulture (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[8:1]  ³ tn Heb “my covenant” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “the covenant I made with them.”

[8:10]  ⁴ tn Or “they have hired themselves out to lovers”; cf. NASB “they hire allies among the nations.”

[8:10]  ⁵ tn The Piel stem of קָבַץ (qavats) is often used in a positive sense, meaning “to regather” a dispersed people (HALOT 1063 s.v. קבץ 3.a; BDB 868 s.v. קָבַץ 1.α). However, in Hosea 8:10 it is used in a negative sense, meaning “to assemble (people) for judgment” (e.g., Ezek 20:34; Hos 9:6; HALOT 1063 s.v. 3.e.i). Cf. JPS “I will hold them fast” (in judgment, see the parallel in 9:6).

[8:10]  ⁶ tn The vav consecutive + preterite וַיָּחֵלּוּ (vayyakhellu, Hiphil preterite 3rd person common plural from חָלַל, khalal, “to begin”]) denotes temporal subordination to the preceding clause: “then…” (so NLT); cf. TEV, CEV “Soon.”

[8:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “a king of princes” (cf. KJV, NASB); TEV “the emperor of Assyria.”