4:17 Ephraim has attached himself to idols;
Do not go near him!
8:3 But Israel has rejected what is morally good;
so an enemy will pursue him.
8:11 Although Ephraim has built many altars for sin offerings,
these have become altars for sinning!
13:12 The punishment 1 of Ephraim has been decreed; 2
his punishment is being stored up for the future.
14:1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for your sin has been your downfall! 3
1 tn The noun עָוֹן (’avon) has a three-fold range of meanings: (1) “iniquity,” so KJV, NASB, NRSV; (2) “guilt,” so NAB, NIV; and (3) “punishment” (BDB 730 s.v. עָוֹן). The oracle of 13:12-13 announces that Israel’s punishment, though momentarily withheld, will suddenly come upon her like labor pains that will kill her.
2 tn Heb “has been bound.” צָרַר (tsarar, “to bind”) refers elsewhere to the action of scribes binding a document into a sealed scroll of safekeeping (Isa 8:16; HALOT 1058 s.v. I צרר 1; BDB 864 s.v. צָרַר 1). Here it figuratively depicts the record of Israel’s sins being written down and permanently bound in a sealed scroll for safekeeping (cf. NCV, TEV “are on record”). The guilt of Israel’s sin will be retained.
3 tn Heb “For you have stumbled in your iniquity”; NASB, NRSV “because of your iniquity.”