Discovery BoxHosea 2:7-15 
Context2:7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch 1 them;
she will seek them, but she will not find them. 2
Then she will say,
“I will go back 3 to my husband, 4
because I was better off then than I am now.” 5
2:8 Yet 6 until now 7 she has refused to acknowledge 8 that I 9 was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;
and that it was I who 10 lavished on her the silver and gold –
which they 11 used in worshiping Baal! 12
2:9 Therefore, I will take back 13 my grain during the harvest time 14
and my new wine when it ripens; 15
I will take away my wool and my flax
which I had provided 16 in order to clothe her. 17
2:10 Soon 18 I will expose her lewd nakedness 19 in front of her lovers,
and no one will be able to rescue her from me! 20
2:11 I will put an end to all her celebration:
her annual religious festivals,
monthly new moon celebrations,
and weekly Sabbath festivities –
all her appointed festivals.
2:12 I will destroy her vines and fig trees,
about which she said, “These are my wages for prostitution 21
that my lovers gave to me!”
I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees 22 into an uncultivated thicket,
so that wild animals 23 will devour them.
2:13 “I will punish her for the festival days
when she burned incense to the Baal idols; 24
she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but 25 she forgot me!” 26 says the Lord.
2:14 However, in the future I will allure her; 27
I will lead 28 her back into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
2:15 From there I will give back her vineyards to her,
and turn the “Valley of Trouble” 29 into an “Opportunity 30 for Hope.”
There she will sing as she did when she was young, 31
when 32 she came up from the land of Egypt.
1 tn Heb “overtake” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NLT “be able to catch up with.”
2 tn In the Hebrew text the accusative direct object pronoun אֹתָם (’otam, “them”) is omitted/elided for balanced poetic parallelism. The LXX supplies αὐτους (autous, “them”); but it is not necessary to emend the MT because this is a poetic literary convention rather than a textual problem.
3 tn Heb “I will go and return” (so NRSV). The two verbs joined with vav form a verbal hendiadys. Normally, the first verb functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal sense (GKC 386-87 §120.d, h). The Hebrew phrase אֵלְכָה וְאָשׁוּבָה (’elkhah vÿ’ashuvah, “I will go and I will return”) connotes, “I will return again.” As cohortatives, both verbs emphasize the resolution of the speaker.
4 tn Heb “to my man, the first.” Many English translations (e.g., KJV, NAB, NRSV, TEV) take this as “my first husband,” although this implies that there was more than one husband involved. The text refers to multiple lovers, but these were not necessarily husbands.
5 tn Or “because it was better for me then than now” (cf. NCV).
6 tn Or “For” (so KJV, NASB); or “But” (so NCV).
7 tn The phrase “until now” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.
8 tn Heb “she does not know” (so NASB, NCV); or “she does not acknowledge.”
9 tn The 1st person common singular independent personal pronoun אָנֹכִי (’anokhi, “I”) is emphatic, since the subject of this verbal clause is already explicit in the verb נָתַתִּי (natatti, Qal perfect 1st person common singular: “I gave”).
10 tn The phrase “that it was I who” does not appear in the Hebrew text here, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
11 sn The third person plural here is an obvious reference to the Israelites who had been unfaithful to the
12 tn Heb “for Baal” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); cf. TEV “in the worship of Baal.”
13 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.”
14 tn Heb “in its time” (so NAB, NRSV).
15 tn Heb “in its season” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).
16 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.”
17 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.
18 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).
19 tn Heb “her lewdness” (so KJV, NIV); NAB, NRSV “her shame.”
20 tn Heb “out of my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); TEV “save her from my power.”
21 tn Heb “my wages.” The words “for prostitution” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied for clarity; cf. CEV “gave…as payment for sex.”
22 tn Heb “I will turn them”; the referents (vines and fig trees) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
23 tn Heb “the beasts of the field” (so KJV, NASB); the same expression also occurs in v. 18).
24 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”).
25 tn The vav prefixed to a nonverb (וְאֹתִי, vé’oti) introduces a disjunctive contrastive clause, which is rhetorically powerful.
26 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
27 tn The participle מְפַתֶּיהָ (méfatteha, Piel participle masculine singular + 3rd feminine singular suffix from פָּתָה, patah, “to allure”) following the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “Now!”) describes an event that will occur in the immediate or near future.
28 tn Following the future-time referent participle (מְפַתֶּיהָ, méfatteha) there is a string of perfects introduced by vav consecutive that refer to future events.
29 tn Heb “Valley of Achor,” so named because of the unfortunate incident recorded in Josh 7:1-26 (the name is explained in v. 26; the Hebrew term Achor means “disaster” or “trouble”). Cf. TEV, CEV “Trouble Valley.”
30 tn Heb “door” or “doorway”; cf. NLT “gateway.” Unlike the days of Joshua, when Achan’s sin jeopardized Israel’s mission and cast a dark shadow over the nation, Israel’s future return to the land will be marked by renewed hope.
31 tn Heb “as in the days of her youth” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
32 tn Heb “as in the day when” (so KJV, NASB).
