2:9 Therefore, I will take back 1 my grain during the harvest time 2
and my new wine when it ripens; 3
I will take away my wool and my flax
which I had provided 4 in order to clothe her. 5
10:11 Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain;
I myself put a fine yoke 7 on her neck.
I will harness Ephraim.
Let Judah plow! 8
Let Jacob break up 9 the unplowed ground for himself!
13:8 I will attack them like a bear robbed of her cubs –
I will rip open their chests.
I will devour them there like a lion –
like a wild animal would tear them apart.
13:16 (14:1) 10 Samaria will be held guilty, 11
because she rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword,
their infants will be dashed to the ground –
their 12 pregnant women will be ripped open.
1 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 vÿlaqakhti) means “I will take back.”
2 tn Heb “in its time” (so NAB, NRSV).
3 tn Heb “in its season” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).
4 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.”
5 tn Heb “to cover her nakedness” (so KJV and many other English versions); 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 would lead to nakedness caused by impoverishment.
6 tn Heb “and you will not be for”; NIV “be intimate with.”
7 tc The MT is unintelligible: עַל־טוּב (’al-tuv, “upon a fine [thing]”?). Cf. KJV “I passed over upon her fair neck”; NRSV “I spared her fair neck.” The BHS editors suggest the revocalization עֹל־טוּב (’ol-tuv, “a fine yoke”), followed by many modern English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT). The noun עֹל (’ol, “yoke”) also appears in 11:4 in a metaphor which compares Israel to a young heifer as well.
8 tn Or “Judah will plow” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV, CEV “Judah must plow.”
9 tn Or “Jacob will break up.”
10 sn Beginning with 13:16, the verse numbers through 14:9 in the English Bible differ by one from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 13:16 ET = 14:1 HT, 14:1 ET = 14:2 HT, etc., through 14:9 ET = 14:10 HT. Thus ch. 14 in the Hebrew Bible has 10 verses.
11 tn Or “must bear its guilt” (NIV similar); NLT “must bear the consequences of their guilt”; CEV “will be punished.”
12 tn Heb “his.” This is a collective singular, as recognized by almost all English versions.