Discovery BoxHosea 3:3 
Context3:3 Then I told her, “You must live with me many days; you must not commit adultery or have sexual intercourse with 1 another man, and I also will wait for you.”
Hosea 4:6
Context4:6 You have destroyed 2 my people
by failing to acknowledge me!
Because you refuse to acknowledge me, 3
I will reject you as my priests.
Because you reject 4 the law of your God,
I will reject 5 your descendants.
Hosea 6:4-5
Context6:4 What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim?
What am I going to do with you, O Judah?
For 6 your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist; 7
it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew! 8
6:5 Therefore, I will certainly cut 9 you into pieces at the hands of the prophets; 10
I will certainly kill you 11 in fulfillment of my oracles of judgment; 12
for 13 my judgment 14 will come forth like the light of the dawn. 15
Hosea 10:11
Context10:11 Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain;
I myself put a fine yoke 16 on her neck.
I will harness Ephraim.
Let Judah plow! 17
Let Jacob break up 18 the unplowed ground for himself!
1 tn Heb “and you will not be for”; NIV “be intimate with.”
2 tn Heb “they have destroyed” or “my people are destroyed” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).
3 tn Heb “Because you reject knowledge”; NLT “because they don’t know me.”
4 tn Heb “have forgotten”; NAB, NIV “have ignored.”
5 tn Heb “forget” (so KJV, NRSV); NLT “forget to bless.”
6 tn The vav prefixed to וְחַסְדְּכֶם (vÿkhasdÿkhem, “your faithfulness”) functions in an explanatory sense (“For”).
7 tn Heb “your faithfulness [so NCV; NASB “your loyalty”; NIV, NRSV, NLT “your love”] is like a morning cloud” (וְחַסְדְּכֶם כַּעֲנַן־בֹּקֶר, vÿkhasdÿkhem ka’anan-boqer).
sn The Hebrew poets and prophets frequently refer to the morning clouds as a simile for transitoriness (e.g., Job 7:9; Isa 44:22; Hos 6:4; 13:3; BDB 778 s.v. עָנָן 1.c). For discussion of this phenomena in Palestine, see Chaplin, PEQ (1883): 19.
8 tn Heb “the dew departing early” (BDB 1014 s.v. שָׁכַם); cf. NRSV “the dew that goes away early.” The Hiphil participle מַשְׁכִּים (mashkim) means “to depart early” (Gen 19:27; Josh 8:14; Judg 19:9). The idiom means “early morning” (1 Sam 17:16).
9 tn The two suffix conjugation verbs חָצַבְתִּי (khatsavti, Qal perfect 1st person common singular from חָצַב, khatsav, “to cut into pieces”) and הֲרַגְתִּים (haragtim, Qal perfect 1st person common singular + 3rd person masculine plural suffix from הָרַג, harag, “to kill”) are used in reference to future-time events. These are examples of the so-called “prophetic perfect” which emphasizes the certainty of the future event (e.g., Num 24:17; Josh 10:19; Isa 8:23; 9:1). For this function of the perfect, see IBHS 480-81 §30.1d. Most English versions, however, render these as past tenses.
10 tn Heb “by the prophets” (so KJV, NRSV). The prophets are pictured as the executioners of Israel and Judah because they announced their imminent destruction. The prophetic word was endowed with the power of fulfillment.
11 tn Heb “them.” The shift from the 2nd person masculine singular referents (“your” and “you”) in 6:4-5 to the 3rd person masculine plural referent (“them”) is an example of enallage, a poetic device used for emphasis.
12 tn Heb “with the words of my mouth” (so NIV); TEV “with my message of judgment and destruction.”
13 tn The disjunctive vav prefixed to the noun (וּמִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ, umishpatekha) has an explanatory function.
14 tc The MT reads וּמִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ אוֹר יֵצֵא (umishpatekha ’or yetse’, “and your judgments [are] a light [which] goes forth”) which is enigmatic and syntactically awkward (cf. KJV, NASB). The LXX reads καὶ τὸ κρίμα μου ὡς φώς (kai to krima mou {ws fos, “my judgment goes forth like light”) which reflects וּמִשְׁפָּטִי כָאוֹר יֵצֵא (umishpati kha’or yetse’, “my judgment goes forth like the light”) and posits only a simple misdivision of words. This is reflected in the Syriac Peshitta and Aramaic Targum and is followed by the present translation (so also NCV, NRSV). See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:238.
15 tn The noun אוֹר (’or, “light”) is used here in reference to the morning light or dawn (e.g., Judg 16:2; 19:26; 1 Sam 14:36; 25:34, 36; 2 Sam 17:22; 23:4; 2 Kgs 7:9; Neh 8:3; Job 24:14; Prov 4:18; Mic 2:1; cf. CEV, NLT) rather than lightning (cf. NIV). This continues the early morning imagery used throughout 6:2-5.
sn In 6:3 unrepentant Israel uttered an over-confident boast that the
16 tc The MT is unintelligible: עַל־טוּב (’al-tuv, “upon a fine [thing]”?). Cf. KJV “I passed over upon her fair neck”; NRSV “I spared her fair neck.” The BHS editors suggest the revocalization עֹל־טוּב (’ol-tuv, “a fine yoke”), followed by many modern English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT). The noun עֹל (’ol, “yoke”) also appears in 11:4 in a metaphor which compares Israel to a young heifer as well.
17 tn Or “Judah will plow” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV, CEV “Judah must plow.”
18 tn Or “Jacob will break up.”
