Hosea 12:12-14 New English Translation
Jacob in Aram, Israel in Egypt, and Ephraim in Trouble
12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram,
then Israel worked[a] to acquire a wife;
he tended sheep to pay for her.
13 The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet,
and due to a prophet[b] Israel[c] was preserved alive.[d]
14 But Ephraim bitterly[e] provoked him to anger;
so he will hold him accountable for the blood he has shed,[f]
his Lord[g] will repay him for the contempt he has shown.[h]
Footnotes
- Hosea 12:12 tn Heb “served” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); cf. NLT “earned a wife.”
- Hosea 12:13 tn Heb “by a prophet” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
- Hosea 12:13 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Hosea 12:13 tn Heb “was protected”; cf. NASB “was kept.” The verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “to watch, guard, keep, protect”) is repeated in 12:13-14 HT (12:12-13 ET). This repetition creates parallels between Jacob’s sojourn in Aram and Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness. Jacob “tended = kept” (שָׁמַר) sheep in Aram, and Israel was “preserved = kept” (נִשְׁמָר, nishmar) by Moses in the wilderness.
- Hosea 12:14 tn The noun תַּמְרוּרִים (tamrurim, “bitter things”) functions as an adverbial accusative of manner, modifying the finite verb: “He bitterly provoked Him to anger” (GKC 375 §118.q). The plural form of the noun functions as a plural of intensity: “very bitterly.” For the adverbial function of the accusative, see IBHS 172-73 §10.2.2e.
- Hosea 12:14 tn Heb “He will leave his blood upon him”; cf. NIV “will leave upon him the guilt of his bloodshed.”
- Hosea 12:14 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
- Hosea 12:14 tn Heb “for his contempt” (so NIV); cf. NRSV “for his insults,” NAB “for his outrage.”
New English Translation (NET)
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