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Hosea 2:7-9  New English Translation

7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch[a] them;
she will seek them, but she will not find them.[b]
Then she will say,
‘I will go back[c] to my husband,[d]
because I was better off then than I am now.’[e]

Agricultural Fertility Withdrawn from Israel

8 “Yet[f] until now[g] she has refused to acknowledge[h] that I[i] was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;
and that it was I who[j] lavished on her the silver and gold—
that they[k] used in worshiping Baal![l]
9 Therefore, I will take back[m] my grain during the harvest time[n]
and my new wine when it ripens;[o]
I will take away my wool and my flax
that I had provided[p] in order to clothe her.[q]

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 2:7 tn Heb “overtake” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); cf. NLT “be able to catch up with.”
  2. Hosea 2:7 tn In the Hebrew text the accusative direct-object pronoun אֹתָם (ʾotam, “them”) is omitted/elided for balanced poetic parallelism. The LXX supplies αὐτούς (autous, “them”); but it is not necessary to emend the MT because this is a poetic literary convention rather than a textual problem.
  3. Hosea 2:7 tn Heb “I will go and return” (so NRSV). The two verbs joined with vav form a verbal hendiadys. Normally, the first verb functions adverbially, and the second retains its full verbal sense (GKC 386-87 §120.d, h). The Hebrew phrase אֵלְכָה וְאָשׁוּבָה (ʾelekhah veʾashuvah, “I will go and I will return”) connotes, “I will return again.” As cohortatives, both verbs emphasize the resolution of the speaker.
  4. Hosea 2:7 tn Heb “to my man, the first.” Many English translations (e.g., KJV, NAB, NRSV, TEV) take this as “my first husband,” although this implies that there was more than one husband involved. The text refers to multiple lovers, but these were not necessarily husbands.
  5. Hosea 2:7 tn Or “because it was better for me then than now” (cf. NCV).
  6. Hosea 2:8 tn Or “For” (so KJV, NASB); or “But” (so NCV).
  7. Hosea 2:8 tn The phrase “until now” does not appear in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.
  8. Hosea 2:8 tn Heb “she does not know” (so NASB, NCV); or “she does not acknowledge.”
  9. Hosea 2:8 tn The first person common singular independent personal pronoun אָנֹכִי (’anokhi, “I”) is emphatic, since the subject of this verbal clause is already explicit in the verb נָתַתִּי (natatti, Qal perfect first person common singular: “I gave”).
  10. Hosea 2:8 tn The phrase “that it was I who” does not appear in the Hebrew text here but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
  11. Hosea 2:8 sn The third person plural here is an obvious reference to the Israelites, who had been unfaithful to the Lord in spite of all that he had done for them. To maintain the imagery of Israel as the prostitute, a third person feminine singular would be called for; in the interest of literary consistency this has been supplied in some English translations (e.g., NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
  12. Hosea 2:8 tn Heb “for Baal” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); cf. TEV “in the worship of Baal.”
  13. Hosea 2:9 tn Heb “I will return and I will take.” The two verbs joined with vav conjunction form a verbal hendiadys in which the first verb functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal sense (GKC 386-87 §120.d, h): אָשׁוּב וְלָקַחְתִּי (’ashuv velaqakhti) means: “I will take back.”
  14. Hosea 2:9 tn Heb “in its time” (so NAB, NRSV).
  15. Hosea 2:9 tn Heb “in its season” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).
  16. Hosea 2:9 tn The words “which I had provided” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons; cf. NIV “intended to cover.”
  17. Hosea 2:9 tn Heb “to cover her nakedness” (so KJV and many other English versions); cf. TEV “for clothing.”sn This announcement of judgment is extremely ironic and forcefully communicates poetic justice: the punishment will fit the crime. The Israelites were literally uncovering their nakedness in temple prostitution in the Baal fertility cult rituals. Yahweh will, in effect, give them what they wanted (nakedness) but not in the way they wanted it: Yahweh will withhold the agricultural fertility they sought from Baal, which will lead to nakedness caused by impoverishment.
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