Discovery BoxHosea 9:11-12 
Context9:11 Ephraim will be like a bird;
what they value 1 will fly away.
They will not bear children –
they will not enjoy pregnancy –
they will not even conceive! 2
9:12 Even if they raise their children,
I will take away every last one of them. 3
Woe to them!
For I will turn away from them.
Hosea 9:16-17
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.
9:17 My God will reject them,
for they have not obeyed him;
so they will be fugitives among the nations.
1 tn Heb “their glory” (so NASB); TEV “Israel’s greateness.”
2 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).
3 tn Heb “I will bereave them from a man”; NRSV “I will bereave them until no one is left.”
4 tn Or perhaps, following the plant metaphor, “will be blighted” (NIV similar).
