Hosea 4:5-7

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Hosea 4:5 tc The MT reads וְדָמִיתִי אִמֶּךָ (v^edamiti ’immekha, “and I will destroy your mother”), and is followed by most English versions; however, the text should probably be emended to וְדָמִית עַמֶּךָ (v^edamit ’ammekha, “and you have destroyed your own people”). The second person masculine singular form וְדָמִית (v^edamit, “and you have destroyed”) is preserved in several medieval Hebrew mss and reflected in Jerome’s Vulgate. 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.tn Or “and I will destroy your mother” (so NASB, NRSV).
2. Hosea 4:6 tn Heb “they have destroyed” or “my people are destroyed” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).
3. Hosea 4:6 tn Heb “Because you reject knowledge”; cf. NLT “because they don’t know me.”
4. Hosea 4:6 tn Heb “have forgotten”; cf. NAB, NIV “have ignored.”
5. Hosea 4:6 tn Heb “forget” (so KJV, NRSV); cf. NLT “forget to bless.”
6. 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.