Jeremiah 9:25

9:25 The Lord says, “Watch out! ¹  The time is soon coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh. ² 

Jeremiah 11:22

11:22 So the Lord who rules over all ³  said, “I will surely ⁴  punish them! Their young men will be killed in battle. ⁵  Their sons and daughters will die of starvation.

Jeremiah 13:21

13:21 What will you say ⁶  when the Lord ⁷  appoints as rulers over you those allies

that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such? ⁸ 

Then anguish and agony will grip you

like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. ⁹ 

Hosea 2:13

2:13 “I will punish her for the festival days

when she burned incense to the Baal idols; ¹⁰ 

she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry,

and went after her lovers,

but ¹¹  she forgot me!” ¹²  says the Lord.

Hosea 8:13

8:13 They offer up sacrificial gifts to me,

and eat the meat,

but the Lord does not accept their sacrifices. ¹³ 

Soon he will remember their wrongdoing,

he will punish their sins,

and they will return to Egypt.

Hosea 9:9

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times

9:9 They have sunk deep into corruption ¹⁴ 

as in the days of Gibeah.

He will remember their wrongdoing.

He will repay them for their sins.

[9:25]  ¹ tn Heb “Behold!”

[9:25]  ² tn Heb “punish all who are circumcised in the flesh.” The translation is contextually motivated to better bring out the contrast that follows.

[11:22]  ³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[11:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “Behold I will.” For the function of this particle see the translator’s note on 1:6.

[11:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “will die by the sword.” Here “sword” stands contextually for “battle” while “starvation” stands for death by starvation during siege.

[13:21]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps more rhetorically equivalent, “Will you not be surprised?”

[13:21]  ⁷ tn The words “The Lord” are not in the text. Some commentators make the enemy the subject, but they are spoken of as “them.”

[13:21]  ⁸ tn Or “to be rulers.” The translation of these two lines is somewhat uncertain. The sentence structure of these two lines raises problems in translation. The Hebrew text reads: “What will you do when he appoints over you [or punishes you (see BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.B.2 for the former, Qal.A.3 for the latter)] and you, yourself, taught them over you friends [or chiefs (see BDB 48 s.v. I אַלּוּף 2 and Ps 55:13 for the former and BDB 49 s.v. II אַלּוּף and Exod 15:15 for the latter)] for a head.” The translation assumes that the clause “and you, yourself, taught them [= made them accustomed, i.e., “prepared”] [to be] over you” is parenthetical coming between the verb “appoint” and its object and object modifier (i.e., “appointed over you allies for rulers”). A quick check of other English versions will show how varied the translation of these lines has been. Most English versions seem to ignore the second “over you” after “you taught them.” Some rearrange the text to get what they think is a sensible meaning. For a fairly thorough treatment see W. McKane, Jeremiah (ICC), 1:308-10.

[13:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “Will not pain [here = mental anguish] take hold of you like a woman giving birth.” The question is rhetorical expecting a positive answer.

[2:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the days of the Baals, to whom she burned incense.” The word “festival” is supplied to clarify the referent of “days,” and the word “idols” is supplied in light of the plural “Baals” (cf. NLT “her images of Baal”).

[2:13]  ¹¹ tn The vav prefixed to a nonverb (וְאֹתִי, vé’oti) introduces a disjunctive contrastive clause, which is rhetorically powerful.

[2:13]  ¹² tn The accusative direct object pronoun וְאֹתִי (vé’oti, “me”) is emphatic in the word order of this clause (cf. NIV “but me she forgot”), emphasizing the heinous inappropriateness of Israel’s departure from the Lord.

[8:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “does not accept them”; the referent (their sacrifices) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:9]  ¹⁴ tn Or more literally, “they are deeply corrupted.” The two verbs הֶעְמִיקוּ־שִׁחֵתוּ (he’miqu-shikhetu; literally, “they have made deep, they act corruptly”) are coordinated without a conjunction vav to form a verbal hendiadys: the second verb represents the main idea, while the first functions adverbially (GKC 386-87 §120.g). Here Gesenius suggests “they are deeply/radically corrupted.” Several translations mirror the syntax of this hendiadys: “They have deeply corrupted themselves” (KJV, ASV, NRSV), “They have been grievously corrupt” (NJPS), and “They are hopelessly evil” (TEV). Others reverse the syntax for the sake of a more graphic English idiom: “They have gone deep in depravity” (NASB) and “They have sunk deep into corruption” (NIV). Some translations fail to represent the hendiadys at all: “You are brutal and corrupt” (CEV). The translation “They are deeply corrupted” mirrors the Hebrew syntax, but “They have sunk deep into corruption” is a more graphic English idiom and is preferred here (cf. NAB “They have sunk to the depths of corruption”).