10:2a
Their hearts are devious: This expression indicates that being devious was a characteristic of the people that resulted from their faulty and perverse reasoning.
Here are other ways to translate this expression:
Their heart is false (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
They have an insincere heart
-or-
Their heart is deceptive
Their hearts: The people of Israel considered the heart to be the center of attitudes and thoughts. Some languages use a different body organ, such as the liver, to signify the center of attitudes and thoughts. Use an expression that is natural in your language for this purpose.
In Hebrew, the word Their is plural but “heart” is singular. The phrase Their heart indicates that the people share in common a deceitful way of thinking. In some languages, it may be unnatural to refer to a group of people as having one heart. If so, it may be necessary to make the word “heart” or other body organ plural. For example:
The people whose hearts are deceitful (Good News Translation)
In some languages, it may be preferable to express the same meaning without reference to a body organ. For example:
They are hypocrites (God’s Word)
-or-
You are deceitful and disloyal (Contemporary English Version)
now they must bear their guilt: This clause indicates that the time has arrived for the LORD to punish the nation. He will make them pay or suffer for their guilt. The word now indicates that he will not wait any longer.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
they are guilty and must be punished (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
The people whose hearts are deceitful must now suffer for their sins. (Good News Translation)
-or-
They will be punished for their sins.
10:2b–c
Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:
2b The LORD will break down their altars
2c and demolish their sacred pillars.
The LORD will break down their altars and demolish their sacred pillars: These lines describe what the LORD will do to the altars and sacred pillars that Hosea described in 10:1b–c. He will destroy them. The form of the Hebrew pronoun that is used here emphasizes the LORD as the agent of destruction. Some versions make this emphasis explicit. For example:
He himself will hack down their altars and wreck their sacred pillars. (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
The Lord himself will break down their altars and demolish their sacred pillars.
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