Hosea 9:11-17
Christian Standard Bible
11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird:(A)
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.(B)
12 Even if they raise children,
I will bereave them of each one.
Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!(C)
13 I have seen Ephraim like Tyre,(D)
planted in a meadow,
so Ephraim will bring out his children
to the executioner.
14 Give them, Lord—
What should you give?
Give them a womb that miscarries
and breasts that are dry!(E)
15 All their evil appears at Gilgal,(F)
for there I began to hate them.
I will drive them from my house
because of their evil, wicked actions.(G)
I will no longer love them;
all their leaders are rebellious.(H)
16 Ephraim(I) is struck down;
their roots are withered;
they cannot bear fruit.(J)
Even if they bear children,
I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs.(K)
17 My God will reject them
because they have not listened to him;(L)
they will become wanderers among the nations.(M)
Hosea 9:11-17
New English Translation
The Fertility Worshipers Will Become Infertile
11 Ephraim will be like a bird;
what they value[a] will fly away.
They will not bear children—
they will not enjoy pregnancy—
they will not even conceive![b]
12 Even if they raise their children,
I will take away every last one of them.[c]
Woe to them!
For I will turn away from them.
13 Ephraim, as I have seen, has given their children for prey;[d]
Ephraim will bear his sons for slaughter.
14 Give them, O Lord—
what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry,
and breasts that cannot nurse![e]
15 Because of all their evil in Gilgal,
I hate them there.
On account of their evil deeds,
I will drive them out of my land.[f]
I will no longer love them;
all their rulers are rebels.
16 Ephraim will be struck down[g]—
their root will be dried up;
they will not yield any fruit.
Even if they do bear children,
I will kill their precious offspring.
17 My God will reject them,
for they have not obeyed him;
so they will be fugitives among the nations.
Footnotes
- Hosea 9:11 tn Heb “their glory” (so NASB); cf. TEV “Israel’s greatness.”
- Hosea 9:11 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).
- Hosea 9:12 tn Heb “I will bereave them from a man”; cf. NRSV “I will bereave them until no one is left.”
- Hosea 9:13 tc The MT is difficult here. The first line of the MT reads, “Ephraim as I have seen like Tyre is planted in a meadow.” The verse may suggest that as Tyre had a pleasant location but will be judged (cf. Isa 23:1-18; Amos 1:9-10), so now also Ephraim will be. The BHS editors suggest emending the text of 13a to follow the LXX reading, which substantially follows the MT consonantal text and is given above. See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:250-51.
- Hosea 9:14 tn Heb “breasts that shrivel up dry”; cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV “dry breasts.”
- Hosea 9:15 tn Heb “out of my house” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV, NCV, and NLT have “my land.”
- Hosea 9:16 tn Or perhaps, following the plant metaphor: “will be blighted” (the NIV is similar).
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