4:19 A whirlwind has wrapped them in its wings;
they will be brought to shame because of their idolatrous worship. 1
8:9 They have gone up to Assyria,
like a wild donkey that wanders off.
Ephraim has hired prostitutes as lovers. 2
1 tn Heb “their altars” (so NAB, NRSV) or “their sacrifices” (so KJV, NASB, NIV). Here זִבְחוֹתָם (zivkhotam, “altars; sacrifices”) is a metonymy of association for Israel’s apostate idolatrous Baal worship.
2 tn Or “has hired herself out to lovers”; cf. NIV “has sold herself to lovers.”