Discovery BoxHosea 2:3 
Context2:3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked,
and expose her like she was when she was born.
I will turn her land into a wilderness
and make her country a parched land,
so that I might kill 1 her with thirst.
Hosea 2:9-10
Context2:9 Therefore, I will take back 2 my grain during the harvest time 3
and my new wine when it ripens; 4
I will take away my wool and my flax
which I had provided 5 in order to clothe her. 6
2:10 Soon 7 I will expose her lewd nakedness 8 in front of her lovers,
and no one will be able to rescue her from me! 9
1 tn Heb “and kill her with thirst.” The vav prefixed to the verb (וַהֲמִתִּיהָ, vahamittiha) introduces a purpose/result clause: “in order to make her die of thirst” (purpose) or “and thus make her die of thirst” (result).
2 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.”
3 tn Heb “in its time” (so NAB, NRSV).
4 tn Heb “in its season” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).
5 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.”
6 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.
7 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).
8 tn Heb “her lewdness” (so KJV, NIV); NAB, NRSV “her shame.”
9 tn Heb “out of my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); TEV “save her from my power.”
