SIL Translator’s Notes on Hosea 5:2

5:2a

The rebels are deep in slaughter: There is a textual issue here:

(1) The Masoretic Text has “and rebels have made deep slaughter/corruption.” For example:

And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter (English Standard Version)

(2) Some scholars think that the original Hebrew text was “they have made deep the pit of Shittim.” This is a figure of speech that is similar to the trap metaphors in 5:1c. The meaning is also similar. For example:

They have dug the ditch deep at Shittim (New Jerusalem Bible)

It is recommended that you follow option (1) along with most versions. It makes sense, fits the context, and does not require a different original text.

The rebels: In this context, The rebels implies people who have rebelled against the LORD. It refers to the same groups of people that are referred to in 5:1a.

are deep in slaughter: There are different ways to interpret the Hebrew noun that the Berean Standard Bible translates as slaughter :

(1) The Hebrew noun comes from a verb root that means “kill, slaughter.” The phrase deep in slaughter means that they are responsible for killing many people. For example:

The revolters are deeply involved in slaughter (New King James Version)
-or-
The rebels have caused many people to be killed.

(2) The Hebrew noun comes from a verb root that means “corrupt.” The phrase “deep in corruption” means that they are responsible for many evil deeds. It does not refer specifically to officials who take bribes or other government corruption. For example:

You are deeply involved in sin. (God’s Word)
-or-
The rebels have done many evil things

Interpretation (1) will be used in the Display. It is supported by most of the lexicons. It also offers the most straightforward explanation of the word that is used in the Masoretic Text.

However, you may also use interpretation (2). This interpretation is easier to apply to the people of Israel as a whole. It also closely matches a very similar expression in Hosea 9:9 that uses forms of the same Hebrew words.

5:2b

I will chastise: In this context, the word chastise means to punish someone in order to correct their bad behavior. The same word is used of a parent who disciplines a child. For example:

punish (Good News Translation)

them all: This phrase refers to both the leaders and the people of Israel. The Good News Translation says “all of you” instead of them all. That is because the Hebrew text in 5:1 uses the pronoun “you” to refer to the leaders and people. The Good News Translation uses the same pronoun here, since the LORD is speaking to the same people as in 5:1. Translate this phrase in a natural way in your language.

© 2021 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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