Discovery BoxHosea 9:10-11 
Context9:10 When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness.
I viewed your ancestors 1 like an early fig on a fig tree in its first season.
Then they came to Baal-Peor and they dedicated themselves to shame –
they became as detestable as what they loved.
9:11 Ephraim will be like a bird;
what they value 2 will fly away.
They will not bear children –
they will not enjoy pregnancy –
they will not even conceive! 3
Hosea 9:16
Context9:16 Ephraim will be struck down 4 –
their root will be dried up;
they will not yield any fruit.
Even if they do bear children,
I will kill their precious offspring.
1 tn Heb “fathers”; a number of more recent English versions use the more general “ancestors” here.
2 tn Heb “their glory” (so NASB); TEV “Israel’s greateness.”
3 tn Heb “no childbearing, no pregnancy, no conception.” The preposition מִן (min) prefixed to the three parallel nouns functions in a privative sense, indicating deprivation (BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7).
4 tn Or perhaps, following the plant metaphor, “will be blighted” (NIV similar).
