2:6 Therefore, I will soon 1 fence her in 2 with thorns;
I will wall her in 3 so that 4 she cannot find her way. 5
2:10 Soon 6 I will expose her lewd nakedness 7 in front of her lovers,
and no one will be able to rescue her from me! 8
2:11 I will put an end to all her celebration:
her annual religious festivals,
monthly new moon celebrations,
and weekly Sabbath festivities –
all her appointed festivals.
2:14 However, in the future I will allure her; 9
I will lead 10 her back into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
1 tn The deictic particle הִנְנִי (hinni, “Behold!”) introduces a future-time reference participle that refers to imminent future action: “I am about to” (TEV “I am going to”).
2 tn Heb “I will hedge up her way”; NIV “block her path.”
3 tn Heb “I will wall in her wall.” The cognate accusative construction וְגָדַרְתִּי אֶת־גְּדֵרָהּ (vÿgadarti ’et-gÿderah, “I will wall in her wall”) is an emphatic literary device. The 3rd person feminine singular suffix on the noun functions as a dative of disadvantage: “as a wall against her” (A. B. Davidson, Hebrew Syntax, 3, remark 2). The expression means “I will build a wall to bar her way.” Cf. KJV “I will make a wall”; TEV “I will build a wall”; RSV, NASB, NRSV “I will build a wall against her”; NLT “I will fence her in.”
4 tn The disjunctive clause (object followed by negated verb) introduces a clause which can be understood as either purpose or result.
5 tn Heb “her paths” (so NAB, NRSV).
6 tn The particle עַתָּה (’attah) often refers to the imminent or the impending future: “very soon” (BDB 774 s.v. עַתָּה 1.b). In Hosea it normally introduces imminent judgment (Hos 2:12; 4:16; 5:7; 8:8, 13; 10:2).
7 tn Heb “her lewdness” (so KJV, NIV); NAB, NRSV “her shame.”
8 tn Heb “out of my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); TEV “save her from my power.”
9 tn The participle מְפַתֶּיהָ (méfatteha, Piel participle masculine singular + 3rd feminine singular suffix from פָּתָה, patah, “to allure”) following the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “Now!”) describes an event that will occur in the immediate or near future.
10 tn Following the future-time referent participle (מְפַתֶּיהָ, méfatteha) there is a string of perfects introduced by vav consecutive that refer to future events.