Hosea 6:4
Context| NETBible | What am I going to do with you, O Ephraim? What am I going to do with you, O Judah? For 1 your faithfulness is as fleeting as the morning mist; 2 it disappears as quickly as dawn’s dew! 3 |
| XREF | Jud 2:18,19; Ps 78:34-37; Ps 106:12,13; Isa 5:3,4; Jer 3:10; Jer 3:19; Jer 5:7,9,23; Jer 9:7; Jer 34:15; Ho 11:8; Ho 13:3; Mt 13:21; Lu 13:7-9; Lu 19:41,42; 2Pe 2:20-22 |
| NET © Notes |
1 tn The vav prefixed to וְחַסְדְּכֶם (vÿkhasdÿkhem, “your faithfulness”) functions in an explanatory sense (“For”). 2 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. 3 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). |
