Discovery BoxHosea 2:13 
Context2:13 “I will punish her for the festival days
when she burned incense to the Baal idols; 1
she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but 2 she forgot me!” 3 says the Lord.
Hosea 2:18
Context2:18 “At that time 4 I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals,
the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground.
I will abolish 5 the warrior’s bow and sword
– that is, every weapon of warfare 6 – from the land,
and I will allow them to live securely.” 7
Hosea 4:13
Context4:13 They sacrifice on the mountaintops,
and burn offerings on the hills;
they sacrifice 8 under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
because their shade is so pleasant.
As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes,
and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!
Hosea 4:15
Context4:15 Although you, O Israel, commit adultery,
do not let Judah become guilty!
Do not journey to Gilgal!
Do not go up to Beth Aven! 9
Do not swear, “As surely as the Lord lives!”
Hosea 5:13-14
Context5:13 When Ephraim saw 10 his sickness
and Judah saw his wound,
then Ephraim turned 11 to Assyria,
and begged 12 its great king 13 for help.
But he will not be able to heal you!
He cannot cure your wound! 14
5:14 I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I myself will tear them to pieces,
then I will carry them off, and no one will be able to rescue them!
Hosea 10:8
Context10:8 The high places of the “House 15 of Wickedness” 16 will be destroyed;
it is the place where Israel sins.
Thorns and thistles will grow up over its altars.
Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
1 tn Heb “the days of the Baals, to whom she burned incense.” The word “festival” is supplied to clarify the referent of “days,” and the word “idols” is supplied in light of the plural “Baals” (cf. NLT “her images of Baal”).
2 tn The vav prefixed to a nonverb (וְאֹתִי, vé’oti) introduces a disjunctive contrastive clause, which is rhetorically powerful.
3 tn The accusative direct object pronoun וְאֹתִי (vé’oti, “me”) is emphatic in the word order of this clause (cf. NIV “but me she forgot”), emphasizing the heinous inappropriateness of Israel’s departure from the
4 tn Heb “And in that day” (so KJV, ASV).
5 tn Heb “I will break”; NAB “I will destroy”; NCV “I will smash”; NLT “I will remove.”
6 tn Heb “bow and sword and warfare.” The first two terms in the triad וְקֶשֶׁת וְחֶרֶב וּמִלְחָמָה (vÿqeshet vÿkherev umilkhamah, literally, “bow and sword and warfare”) are examples of synecdoche of specific (bow and sword) for general (weapons of war, so CEV). However, they might be examples of metonymy (bow and sword) of association (warfare).
7 tn Heb “and I will cause them to lie down in safety.” The causative nuance (“will make them”) is retained in several English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
8 tn The phrase “they sacrifice” is not repeated in the Hebrew text here but is implied by parallelism; it is provided in the translation for the sake of clarity.
9 sn Beth Aven means “house of wickedness” in Hebrew; it is a polemic reference to “Bethel,” which means “house of God.” Cf. CEV “at sinful Bethel.”
10 tn Hosea employs three preterites (vayyiqtol forms) in verse 13a-b to describe a past-time situation.
11 tn Heb “went to” (so NAB, NRSV, TEV); CEV “asked help from.”
12 tn Heb “sent to” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).
13 tc The MT reads מֶלֶךְ יָרֵב (melekh yarev, “a contentious king”). This is translated as a proper name (“king Jareb”) by KJV, ASV, NASB. However, the stative adjective יָרֵב (“contentious”) is somewhat awkward. The words should be redivided as an archaic genitive-construct מַלְכִּי רָב (malki rav, “great king”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) which preserves the old genitive hireq yod ending. This is the equivalent of the Assyrian royal epithet sarru rabbu (“the great king”). See also the tc note on the same phrase in 10:6.
14 tn Heb “your wound will not depart from you.”
sn Hosea personifies Ephraim’s “wound” as if it could depart from the sickly Ephraim (see the formal equivalent rendering in the preceding tn). Ephraim’s sinful action in relying upon an Assyrian treaty for protection will not dispense with its problems.
15 tn Alternately, “Aven” (KJV, NAB, NRSV, NLT) for the city name “Beth Aven.” The term “Beth” (house) does not appear in the Hebrew text here, but is implied (e.g., Hos 4:15). It is supplied in the translation for clarity.
16 tc The MT reads בָּמוֹת אָוֶן (bamot ’aven, “high places of Aven”); however, several Hebrew
tn Heb “high places of wickedness” (בָּמוֹת אָוֶן, bamot ’aven); so NIV. The noun אָוֶן (“wickedness”) is an attributive genitive: “wicked high places.”
