Discovery BoxHosea 7:13-16 
Context7:13 Woe to them! For they have fled from me!
Destruction to them! For they have rebelled against me!
I want to deliver 1 them,
but they have lied to me.
7:14 They do not pray to me, 2
but howl in distress on their beds;
They slash themselves 3 for grain and new wine,
but turn away from me.
7:15 Although I trained and strengthened them, 4
they plot evil against me!
they are like an unreliable bow.
Their leaders will fall by the sword
because their prayers to Baal 6 have made me angry.
So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt. 7
1 tn Heb “redeem” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV, TEV “save”; CEV “I would have rescued them.”
2 tn Heb “they do not cry out to me in their heart”; NLT “with sincere hearts.”
3 tc The MT reads יִתְגּוֹרָרוּ (yitgoraru) which is either (1) Hitpolel imperfect 3rd person masculine plural (“they assemble themselves”; so KJV, NASB) from I גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn”; BDB 157 s.v. I גּוּר) or (2) Hitpolel imperfect 3rd person masculine plural (“they excite themselves”) from II גּוּר (gur, “to stir up”; BDB 158 s.v. II גּוּר). However, the Hebrew lexicographers suggest that both of these options are unlikely. Several other Hebrew
4 tn Heb “their arms” (so NAB, NRSV).
5 tc The MT reads the enigmatic יָשׁוּבוּ לֹא עָל (yashuvu lo’ ’al) which is taken variously: “they turn, but not upward” (NASB); “they do not turn to the Most High” (NIV); “they return, but not to the most High” (KJV). The BHS editors suggest יָשׁוּבוּ לַבַּעַל (yashuvu labba’al, “they turn to Baal”; so RSV) or יָשׁוּבוּ לַבְּלִיַּעַל (yashuvu labbÿliyya’al, “they turn to Belial”) which is reflected by the LXX.
6 tn Heb “because their tongue.” The term “tongue” is used figuratively, as a metonymy of cause (tongue) for the effect (prayers to Baal).
7 tn Heb “this [will] be for scorn in the land of Egypt”; NIV “they will be ridiculed (NAB shall be mocked) in the land of Egypt.”
