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Israel’s Punishment Will Not Be Withheld Much Longer

12 The punishment[a] of Ephraim has been decreed;[b]
his punishment is being stored up for the future.
13 The labor pains of a woman will overtake him,
but the baby will lack wisdom;
when the time arrives,
he will not come out of the womb!

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 13:12 tn The noun עָוֹן (ʿavon) has a threefold range of meanings: (1) “iniquity” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV), (2) “guilt” (so NAB, NIV), and (3) “punishment” (BDB 730 s.v. עָוֹן). The oracle of 13:12-13 announces that Israel’s punishment, though momentarily withheld, will suddenly come upon her like labor pains that will kill her.
  2. Hosea 13:12 tn Heb “has been bound.” צָרַר (tsarar, “to bind”) refers elsewhere to the action of scribes binding a document into a sealed scroll of safekeeping (Isa 8:16; HALOT 1058 s.v. I צרר 1; BDB 864 s.v. צָרַר 1). Here it figuratively depicts the record of Israel’s sins being written down and permanently bound in a sealed scroll for safekeeping (cf. NCV, TEV “are on record”). The guilt of Israel’s sin will be retained.

12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up.
    His sin is stored up.
13 The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him.
    He is an unwise son;
    for when it is time, he doesn’t come to the opening of the womb.

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