Hosea 9:11-17
English Standard Version
11 Ephraim's (A)glory shall fly away like a bird—
(B)no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12 (C)Even if they bring up children,
I will bereave them till none is left.
(D)Woe to them
when (E)I depart from them!
13 Ephraim, (F)as I have seen, was like a young palm[a] planted in a meadow;
but (G)Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.[b]
14 Give them, O Lord—
what will you give?
Give them (H)a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts.
15 Every evil of theirs is in (I)Gilgal;
there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
all (J)their princes are (K)rebels.
16 Ephraim is stricken;
(L)their root is dried up;
they shall bear no fruit.
Even (M)though they give birth,
(N)I will put their beloved children to death.
17 (O)My God will reject them
because they have not listened to him;
(P)they shall be wanderers among the nations.
Footnotes
- Hosea 9:13 Or like Tyre
- Hosea 9:13 Hebrew to him who slaughters
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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