Hosea 4:7-10 New English Translation

⁷The more the priests increased in numbers,
the more they rebelled against me.
They have turned^[a] their glorious calling
into a shameful disgrace!
⁸They feed on the sin offerings of my people;
their appetites long for their iniquity!
⁹I will deal with the people and priests together:^[b]
I will punish them both for their ways,
and I will repay them for their deeds.
¹⁰They will eat, but not be satisfied;
they will engage in prostitution, but not increase in numbers;
because they have abandoned the Lord
by pursuing other gods.^[c]

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Footnotes

Hosea 4:7 tc The MT reads אָמִיר (ʾamir, “I will change, exchange”; Hiphil imperfect first person common singular from מוּר, mur, “to change, exchange”). However, an alternate scribal tradition (tiqquneh sopherim, that is, an intentional scribal change when the Masoretes believed that the received consonantal reading was defective) preserves the reading הֵמִירוּ (hemiru, “they have exchanged”; Hiphil perfect third person common plural from מוּר). This alternate scribal tradition is also found in the Targum and reflected in the Syriac Peshitta. Several translations follow the MT; KJV, RSV, and NASB have, “I will change their glory into shame,” and the TEV has, “I will turn your honor into disgrace.” However, others adopt the alternate tradition; the NRSV has, “they changed their glory into shame,” and the NIV, “they exchanged their Glory for something disgraceful.” For discussion in favor of the MT reading, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:232.
Hosea 4:9 tn Heb “And it shall be, like people, like priest” (so ASV); cf. NAB “The priests shall fare no better than the people.”
Hosea 4:10 tn Heb “by guarding harlotry.” The present translation assumes that the first word of v. 11 in the Hebrew text is to be taken with the infinitive at the end of v. 10 (so also NAB, NIV, NCV, NRSV).

New English Translation (NET)