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The Prophet’s Declaration of Judgment

Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah!
Sound the trumpet in Ramah!
Sound the alarm in Beth Aven;[a]
tremble in fear,[b] O Benjamin!
Ephraim will be ruined in the day of judgment.[c]
What I am declaring[d] to the tribes of Israel will certainly take place![e]

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 5:8 sn See the note on the place name Beth Aven in 4:15.
  2. Hosea 5:8 tc The MT reads the anomalous אַחֲרֶיךָ בִּנְיָמִין (ʾakharekha binyamin, “behind you, O Benjamin”), a reading followed by many English versions. The LXX reads ἐξέστη (exestē) which might reflect an alternate textual tradition of הַחֲרִדוּ בִּנְיָמִין (hakharidu binyamin, “Tremble in fear, O Benjamin”); the verb form would be a Hiphil imperative second person masculine plural from חָרַד (kharad, “to tremble, be terrified”; BDB 353 s.v. חָרַד). For discussion of this textual problem, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:236.
  3. Hosea 5:9 tn Heb “day of rebuke” (so KJV, NASB); cf. NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT “day of punishment.”
  4. Hosea 5:9 tn The verb הוֹדַעְתִּי (hodaʿti, Hiphil perfect first person common singular from יָדַע, yadaʿ; Qal: “to know,” Hiphil: “to make known, declare”) here functions as (1) an instantaneous perfect, representing an action being performed at the same instant that the speaker utters the statement (e.g., Gen 14:22; Deut 8:19; 26:3; 2 Sam 17:11; 19:30; Ps 143:6); or (2) an epistolary perfect, representing a situation in past time from the viewpoint of the recipient of the message but in present time from the viewpoint of the writer (e.g., 1 Kgs 15:19; 2 Chr 2:12). For functions of the perfect tense (suffix-conjugation), see IBHS 486-90 §30.5.1.
  5. Hosea 5:9 tn The substantival use of the Niphal participle נֶאֱמָנָה (neʾemanah, “that which is sure”) refers to an event that will occur in the future (BDB 52 s.v. אָמַן 2).

“Sound the alarm in Gibeah!
    Blow the trumpet in Ramah!
Raise the battle cry in Beth-aven[a]!
    Lead on into battle, O warriors of Benjamin!
One thing is certain, Israel[b]:
    On your day of punishment,
    you will become a heap of rubble.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:8 Beth-aven means “house of wickedness”; it is being used as another name for Bethel, which means “house of God.”
  2. 5:9 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 5:11, 12, 13, 14.